


Uncharted

by fangirl_250_501



Series: Adrift Series [2]
Category: Lost
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Behavior, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, F/M, Lost (TV) Season 2, Lost (TV) Season 3, Lost (TV) Spoilers, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:27:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 31,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27390448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_250_501/pseuds/fangirl_250_501
Summary: The hatch has been opened. The threat of the Others looms. As the island’s mysteries become clearer, danger becomes more imminent. Lena Hale Ashford must survive… but how?
Relationships: Sayid Jarrah/Original Character(s), Sayid Jarrah/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Adrift Series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2001361
Comments: 17
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second book of the Adrift Series. If you have not read the first book, I suggest you do so otherwise you will be confused. Enjoy!

“4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. 4-“  
“Hurley, are you okay?” Lena asked. Hurley stopped frantically muttering and glanced up at Lena nervously. Ever since the hatch blew up, he had been acting very strange. Then again, almost everything on the island was strange. 

“Huh?” He said. “Oh yeah, I’m doing just awesome.” Lena glanced back towards the hatch, where Locke, Kate, and Jack still were. 

She couldn’t believe that after everything that happened, that was their reward. A long, seemingly never-ending passageway with a broken ladder.

“Our plan isn’t going to work.” Jack sighed. “We’ll never get everyone down there in time. I don’t think we could even get one person down there in time.” Locke didn’t respond. Instead, he picked up a nearby rock and thaw it down the hatch hole.

It fell for about thirty seconds before a loud splash could be heard. Well, at least there was a bottom. A bottom that seemed to be very far down.

“Water.” Kate whispered.

“It’s shallow, sound’s like a puddle.” Locke deduced. “50 feet, tops. We could use the wire we pulled from the fuselage.. rig up a harness-“

“John, we’re leaving now.” Jack interrupted. 

“I’m with Jack on this one.” Lena said. “I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.” Not only was the hatch creepy as hell, it was the middle of the night, which did not make it better.

“We all went through a lot to get here, Jack.” Locke reasoned. “We have to-“

“The ladder is broken.” Jack pointed out. “You’re going to lower forty people down there one by one? They’re all waiting for us to come back and tell them what to do, so we should forget about the harness.” Both Locke and, surprisingly, Kate started at Jack skeptically, and he threw his hands up in the air. “Look, if you want to go exploring in the morning, fine. But we’re done tonight, and we’re going back to the caves.”

“Why don’t you want to go down there, Jack?” Locke asked. Jack didn’t reply, just picked up his bag and started to walk off. 

…

For Lena, the caves were a very welcome sight. Everyone was there, all huddled together. She was relieved to see everyone alive, even though in the back of her head, she knew they were all okay. 

“They’re back!” Charlie yelled as the five of them entered the caves. A few of the survivors stood up, and Lena thought she saw a few of them sigh in relief, including Sayid.

Everyone looked at Jack to explain, and he stood up on a rock to give one of his ‘Jack speeches.’

“Locke found a hatch about half a mile from here.” Jack began. “We left to blow it open so that we could hide inside, in case… But that does’t matter right now, because it’s not going to work.”

“Where’s Dr. Arzt?” Charlie asked. Lena glanced at the ground uncomfortably, knowing that the answer wasn’t a good one. She didn’t exactly want to tell everyone _Oh, he exploded into tiny little pieces._

“He didn’t make it.” Jack said quietly.

“Did you see them?” Shannon asked from the middle of the crowd. “Did you see the Others?”

“Shannon, there are no Others.” Charlie argued. “We’ve already had this conversation. There’s no one out there, you’re just making up rubbish.”

“You don’t know!” Shannon yelled. Kate and Lena exchanged a very confused glance. What had happened while they were gone? Lena mentally commented. 

“Hey!” Jack shouted, silencing all the chatter. “Everything is going to be okay. We’re going to stay here tonight, together. We still have four guns, and we’ll put lookouts at the entrances. We’re all going to be safe, I promise.” 

…

Lena, as exhausted as she was, ending up being one of the lookouts. As much as she needed sleep, she knew she wouldn’t be able to unless she knew they were all safe.

She didn’t carry a torch like the others stationed at the entrances. Her sword gave off enough light, although she wondered if she was the only one who could see it. 

“What happened out there?” Asked a voice from behind her. Lena turned to see a tired-looking Sayid carrying a torch and a knife.

“I could ask you the same thing.” She replied. “Why is Charlie so against the Others existing, and why is Shannon insisting they do?” Sayid sighed and sat down on the rocks. Lena could already tell that it was a long story. 

“Rousseau took Claire’s baby, Aaron.” Sayid began. “She wanted to trade him to the Others for her daughter. But the Others weren’t there. Rousseau said that she heard them talking about coming for the boy, but we assumed she must have been wrong.”

Lena could only gape. Danielle had set the whole thing up? But then, what was Shannon’s side of the story?

“But earlier tonight.” Sayid continued. “Shannon thought she saw Walt in the jungle.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Lena pointed out. “Walt is on the raft. Do you think something happened to them?”

“I hope not.” He said. “But hope won’t do much against whoever these Others are. But you didn’t answer my question: What happened to you?”  
“Well, we got the dynamite.” Lena said. “Arzt exploded trying to handle it. We blew up the hatch door, but it was just a really long shaft going down. There was a ladder, but it was broken.”

“Locke went back to the hatch about an hour ago.” Sayid said. 

“Of course he did.” Lena sighed. “He’s been going on and on about fate and destiny and how we were all meant to be on this island. It’s a bunch of bullshit, if you ask me.” 

“There you two are!” A voice exclaimed from inside the caves. Both Lena and Sayid turned to see Jack walking towards them, with Hurley following close behind.

“What’s going on?” Lena asked.

“Locke and Kate have been at the hatch for too long.” Jack said. “I’m going after them, and I need you guys to keep everyone safe.”

“We can do that.” Sayid said with a nod. 

_Well,_ Lena thought. _So much for waiting._


	2. Chapter 2

“Ready? One, two, _three_!” Lena and Sayid each picked up an end of the large crate full of supplies. They were back at the beach now, and the two of them had been carrying it from the caves for the past half-hour.

They passed Hurley, who was playing fetch with Vincent the dog. That just made Lena think of the people on the raft, and she hoped that they were alright.

“Dudes, I’ve got to say, I didn’t think we were going to survive the night.” Hurley commented as they passed by. “And I wasn’t even there for the whole baby-stealing part.”  
“I can assure you, it was very exciting.” Sayid said dryly. Lena quietly laughed. 

“It’s about time things are returning to normal-“ Hurley started to say. So, of course, that jinxed it.

“Sayid!” Kate sprinted towards the three of them, with an expression on her face that made Lena think the world was going to end.

“You just had to say that, Hurley?” Lena groaned.

“Sayid.” Kate gasped as she got close enough. “We need your help.”

…

Lena was truly amazed by the hatch. 

It was like a whole secret underground bunker. There were weapons - she would have to check those out later - and food - she would _definitely_ check that out later - but what Sayid’s help was needed for was the giant computer. 

There was a timer on the wall, and it was currently at 24:00. Lena hoped that was a good thing.

“John, where’s Jack?” Kate asked. Lena looked around and, sure enough, Jack wasn’t there.

“He’s gone.” Locke answered. “Sayid, I need your help. You need to fix this computer.” Sayid went over to Locke and surveyed the damage, his expression unreadable. 

“I need a breaker box to turn on the lights.” Sayid said. “There has to be one. Follow the conduit lines.”

“Great plan, but what’s a conduit line?” Lena asked. Hurley was next to her, looking equally confused.

“Those tubes.” Kate said, pointing to the large wires on the ground. “Follow those.” The three of them split in different directions, looking for the box Sayid said would give them light. 

And whatever that timer was ticking down to, Lena didn’t want to find out.

…

5 minutes left. 

While Sayid had been frantically trying to fix the computer, Locke gave them a quick explanation. How there was a man named Desmond living in the hatch, and he had apparently been saving the world by pushing a button.

And now that button was broken.

“Can you fix it?” Locke asked. 

“Whoever this man was replaced the motherboard.” Sayid replied. Lena didn’t know what that was, but judging from Sayid’s tone of voice, it wasn’t good. “The power transformer is blown.”

“I found it!” Kate yelled as the lights turned back on. The hatch became more illuminated, and so did the still-broken computer.

“I’ve almost got it…” Sayid trailed off. He put down his tools and hit the side of the computer. The screen brightened, and a little green icon appeared.

He fixed it.

“Okay, what now?” Lena asked, looking at the computer that for some reason, was a huge deal.

“There was a code.” Locke said. “He made me enter it. 4, 8-“

“Wait a minute!” Hurley exclaimed. Again with him and those numbers? What the hell did they mean?

“15, 16-“

“Dude, I’m serious, stop.” Hurley warned. His face had paled considerably, and he looked absolutely freaked out. 

“23, 32.”

“You know what, forget it.” Hurley said, visibly relaxing. His posture sagged, and Lena could tell that Locke had one of the numbers wrong.

“It’s not 32.” Said a voice from the entrance. “It’s 42. Desmond just told me. The last number is 42.”

And there was Jack, coming to save the day, as usual.

Locke nodded gratefully and entered the numbers into the computer. Hurley was muttering something under his breath and sweating profusely. 

“You do it, Jack.” Locke said suddenly, his fingers stopping just over the execute button. “You have to do it.”

“What?” Jack replied. “You do it yourself, John.”

“You saw the film, Jack.” Locke countered. “This is a two person job, at least. You need to push this button.” Film? Job? Lena was so confused, but she didn’t dare to say anything. 

The timer had gone past four minutes a few minutes ago, and an alarm had started sounding. Lena had a feeling that if no one pushed that button, something terrible was going to happen.

“This argument is irrelevant.” Sayid, ever the voice of reason, interrupted. 

“Sayid, don’t.” Jack said. “It’s not real, John. If you want to push the button, you do it yourself.” 

“If it's not real, then what are you doing here, Jack?” Locke asked, his voice level rising. “Why did you come back? Why do you find it so hard to believe?!”

“Why do you find it so easy?!”

“It’s never been easy!”

Lena, for one, was getting tired of the argument between the two of them. They didn’t know what would happen if the button wasn’t pushed. She figured that they should push it now, and then they would have plenty of time to figure it out not under a stressful situation.

“It’s a leap of faith, Jack.” Locke whispered. Jack looked at the faces of everyone in the room, and then at the computer. The clock was ticking down to just seconds. Jack moved forward to the computer, and only hesitated a moment, hovering his fingers over the keys.

And, just as the timer went to one second, he pushed the button.

The clock reset to 108 minutes, and it began ticking down immediately. Hopefully, they had made the right choice.

“I’ll take the first shift.” Locke said, breaking the stunned silence.

…

The next night was one of the best nights of the entire island experience.

Because Hurley, who had been in charge of the food, made an executive decision to hand it all out. Meaning that for one night, the survivors of flight Oceanic 815 could enjoy real food, not worrying about the hatch or the Others or anything else.

Lena had gotten a bag of chips, bread, and a chocolate bar, among other things. It was amazing to her, eating regular food. It made the island seem normal.

Even if it was the craziest island in existence.


	3. Chapter 3

Having a shift in the hatch with John Locke was one of the most awkward things Lena had ever done. 

She never knew when he was going to randomly launch into a boring rant about how everything they had ever done in their lives led up to this very moment, blah, blah, blah….

The stash of weapons in the hatch, though? Those interested her very much. 

Jack had already said that no one was allowed to take any of the guns without a reason, but guns weren’t the only weapons in that room. There was a very large assortment of knives which depleted slightly once Lena found them. She had also taken a machete from the few that were hanging on the wall. 

None of these even came close to her sword, however.

It was truly the oddest thing. It was as if she had the sword her entire life, even if it had only been in her possession for about a month or so. It was more than just a blade, it was like a friend. Like she had thought before, it was a part of her. 

“So, what was the guy down here like?” Lena asked as she walked out of the room full of weapons. Locke had been doing a crossword puzzle in the chair by the computer, but he looked up as she asked her question. Lena cursed herself for starting a conversation with him, however she was curious about the man who lived there. 

“Desmond?” Locke replied. “He was an odd guy. But I can’t really blame him, he was stuck down here for a long time.” 

“Sounds like he was crazy.” Lena commented as she grabbed a package of peanuts, some of the remaining food in the hatch. 

“Maybe he was.” Locke said quietly. Lena frowned as she contemplated that. If Locke, of all people, thought Desmond was crazy, then he was either truly mad or perfectly sane. 

Suddenly, the door burst open, and both Lena and Locke jumped to their feet. Through the doorway came Jack and Kate, carrying a very bloody Sawyer.

 _Wait, Sawyer?!_ Lena did a double take. Sawyer was supposed to be on the raft. Were they going to be rescued? But if rescue was coming, then why did Jack and Kate bring the injured Sawyer to the hatch?

Meanwhile, the alarm had gone off, and Locke hurried to enter the numbers. As he did this, another man entered that hatch. He was tall, with dark skin and short hair. Where did he come from?

Lena decided not to worry about that for now, and she turned towards the bedroom, where Sawyer was currently lying. Jack seemed to have things under control, so Lena turned to the mysterious man.

“Who are you?” She asked. “And what happened to Sawyer?” Locke walked over from the computer and stood next to her, clearly equally curious as to the man’s origins.

“My name is Mr. Eko.” He said in an accent that Lena couldn’t quite place. “I’m a survivor of Oceanic 815, like you. I was in the tail section of the plane.” Lena was completely shocked as he explained what happened to the tail end survivors, and how they found Jin, Michael, and an injured Sawyer.  
“There was an accident.” Eko said when Locke questioned him about what had just happened. “A girl was shot and killed.”

“What did she look like?” Locke asked. Lena was almost afraid to hear the answer. Who had died?

“She was tall, with blond hair.” Eko explained. “There was an Arab man with her.”

“Shannon.” Lena whispered in horror. Shannon, who tried to help despite people’s low opinions of her, and her own low opinion of herself. Shannon, who had already lost her brother. Shannon, who Sayid loved.

 _Sayid_. He was probably devastated. She didn’t know much about his past, but she could tell that it wasn’t good. Shannon was good for him, she helped him get a fresh start. And now, she was dead.

It was suddenly very hard for Lena to breathe.

Locke and Eko continued to converse, and Jack and Kate kept working on Sawyer. Lena stepped out of the hatch, gulping down the fresh air. She cried, tears falling for the girl she didn’t know very well, but knew she was a good person. 

…

_Lena’s mother, Nina Ashford, had been diagnosed with lung cancer._

_Lena had managed to get her to a hospital, and get her treatment, but she hadn’t visited. Marie had, however, and said that things weren’t good._

_So that day, Lena went to the hospital to see her dying mother._

_“HI mom.” She whispered as she stepped into the room. Her mother looked awful. She was as pale as a sheet, there were bags under her eyes, and she was skinny from sickness._

_“Lena?” Her mom croaked. “Lena is that you?”_

_“Yeah.” Lena said, tears forming in her eyes. “It’s me, Mom. I’m here.” She sat down in a chair next to her bed and held her mother’s hand tightly._

_“How did you pay for all of this, Lena?” Her mother said weakly. “Marie avoids my questions, saying you took care of it. How could you afford this?”_

_The real answer was, Lena stole. She stole a lot of money from various people and companies. And it wasn’t just for her mom’s treatment. She had stolen before, for Marie. Sometimes she stole for people she didn’t know, but they hired her to do it for a large sum of money._

_“I did what I had to do.” Lena answered instead._

_“You’ve always been so brave, my Lena.” Her mother whispered. “You took care of your sister all these years. I’m sorry I was never around.”_

_“No, it’s okay!” Lena said. “You provided for us, you did everything for us. Never apologize for that.” Tears had started to fall from her eyes, but she made no effort to wipe them away._

_“I love you, Mom.” Lena cried. “I wish we had more time.”_

_“So do I, sweetie.” She said, reaching up to push back a strand of Lena’s hair. “So do I.”_

_Nina Ashford died five days later. But she died knowing that her daughter appreciated everything she had done for the family. And that was all the satisfaction that she needed._

…

“Where are they?” Jack asked, his question directed at Eko. “The other tail section survivors, Michael, Jin, and Sayid. Where the hell are they?” Usually Lena was annoyed by Jack’s habit of unnecessary yelling, but she was on his side this time.

“Shannon is dead!” Jack exclaimed after Locke tried to protest what he was doing. “You have to take me back out there, right now.”

“This man isn’t a problem, Jack.” Locke countered. “He did bring Sawyer back.”

“Yeah, half dead with a bullet hole in his shoulder!” Lena argued. Jack briefly glanced at her, both grateful and surprised, before continuing to talk to Eko. 

“Are you going to talk to me, or are you just going to sit there?” Jack seemed completely furious, and Eko’s quiet demeanor only angered him further.

“Anything I say with only make you angry.” Eko replied. “So yes, I will sit here.” Lena, once again, agreed with Jack on that count. Eko’s calm was unnerving.

“Jack! Jack!” 

A new voice came from the hatch entrance, and Sun entered, followed by none other than Michael. He looked like he was doing much better than Sawyer was, as he seemed to be relatively uninjured.

“Jack.” Michael said breathlessly. “We’ve got a problem, man.”

…

Lena very much wanted to punch whoever Ana Lucia was in the face. Not only did she kill Shannon - accidentally, but still - she tied up Sayid and was currently holding a gun on him.

Eko had agreed to take Jack to where Shannon had died, but only Jack, much to Lena and Michael’s protests. But once Jack had agreed, the decision was final. 

All that was left to do was wait. Wait and hope that somehow, everything would turn out alright.


	4. Chapter 4

Shannon’s funeral took place the very next day. 

It was a bittersweet moment. Many people had been reunited once the two groups joined together. Jin and Sun, Rose and her husband, Bernard. Just seeing them reunite gave Lena an odd, joyful feeling. So, at least some people were happy.

And for others, it was one of the worst days of their lives.

“Shannon and I were strangers.” Sayid began, staring down sadly as her body. He looked awful. And not just psychically. The look in his eyes was heartbreaking. “We never would have met… we wouldn’t have even spoken if… But we did meet, and we did speak. I loved her.”

His voice caught slightly at the end of the sentence, and he turned around and walked away as quickly as possible. Lena supposed that he didn’t want anyone to see his emotions coming to the surface.

…

Lena, for one, knew what it was like to lost someone you loved. She knew how that felt. And she knew that no matter how much someone says they want to be alone, they still need someone. 

Lena sat down next to Sayid, who had been sitting on a log near the beach, looking out at the violent crashing waves in the ocean.

“If you ask me if I am okay, I will not hesitate to punch you in the face.” Sayid said not even bothering to turn around to see who it was that was approaching him.

“I wasn’t planning on it.” Lena replied. “Although, I could use a good punch in the face.” She immediately regretted her sarcasm. She really needed to think before she spoke. 

But, to her surprise, Sayid actually smiled. A small one, but still a smile. 

“I know you think you want to isolate yourself from everyone.” She began. “To just wallow in sadness and stare out into the distance. But it’s not good for you to keep all your feelings locked up inside. So… if you ever need to talk to someone, I’m here. I know you think you’re alone, but you don’t have to be.”

Sayid was silent for a while, and Lena became worried that she said the wrong thing, or that she offended him somehow. 

“Has something like this happened to you, Lena?” Sayid asked. “It sounds like you speak from experience.”

“Yeah.” Lena said quietly. “It has.” 

“I’ll have to take you up on that offer another time.” Sayid said. “For now, though… I just need to think.” Lena respected his wishes, and after a quick goodbye, she walked back towards the camp. 

Still, she was pretty sure that she had helped, even if it was just a little bit.

…

The next day, Lena was on hatch duty with Hurley, and Charlie had decided to hang out down there as well. The two of them were good company, even if they got a bit annoying sometimes.

But all the action had happened earlier that day, when Michael took a gun, trapped Locke and Jack in one of the hatch’s rooms, and took off into the jungle after Walt. Lena, unfortunately, was not included in that mission. 

Well, in a way, she really didn’t mind. She was tired of everyone coming to her for help fighting somebody.

“The music down here is weird.” Charlie commented as he flipped through the various albums. “Geronimo Jackson? I’m an expert in all things musical, and I’ve never heard of them.” 

Lena, who was not very well versed in music culture, was glad that she was not the only one who had no idea what any of that stuff was.

“Let’s try this one.” Hurley suggested as he put in a different record. The music was a little depressing, but it was certainly better than silence or awkward social interaction. 

“So, what do you think is the story with that Libby chick?” Hurley asked, completely out of the blue. Libby was one of the tail section survivors and, from what Lena knew, she seemed like the nicest one. “She’s kind of cute, right? You know, in a I’ve-been-terrorized-by-the-Others-for-forty-days kind of way?”

Lena and Charlie glanced at each other and both smirked knowingly. Hurley was crushing, and he was crushing hard. In Lena’s opinion, it was adorable. 

“Yeah, I guess so.” Lena commented. Hurley was clearly happy at his thought being validated, and he continued on his Libby rant, talking about how it was the ‘classic desert island scenario.’ Lena did have to admit, it was kind of a cliche.

“Do you think Claire’s missed me yet?” Charlie asked, chaining the subject once again. Lena wasn’t exactly sure what happened, but there had been a whole thing involving Charlie and heroin, which ended with a very angry Claire.

“Dude, it’s been, like, a day.” Hurley reminded him. Charlie slumped in his seat and glared stonily at the floor. 

Some things just didn’t work out, Lena supposed. But Charlie and Claire seemed so… right for each other. It was a shame to see them apart.

…

“You want to start an _army_?” Lena exclaimed incredulously. Jack sighed, seemingly knowing that her response would be something like that.

The search for Michael had gone sideways in a very serious way. Kate had gotten captured, the Others kicked their asses, and they ended up coming back with no Michael, an embarrassed Kate, and everyone feeling humiliated.

But Jack coming to her with the proposal of starting an army sounded ridiculous.

“Jack, no offense, but that is an awful idea.” She said. “We have the weapons from the hatch, but that’s not nearly going to be enough. And here’s something I don’t think any of you get: I am one person with one sword. I’m not a battalion of soldiers waiting at your command.” 

“You know what, forget it.” Jack said as he started to walk away.   
“Jack wait!” Lena yelled. He stopped in his tracks and turned around. Lena could see the look of hopefulness, that maybe she had changed her mind. “You have the right idea. We can’t just let the Others control us like that. But I don’t think you get what building an army would mean.” 

“Fine then.” Jack replied. “I just need to know one thing: If we went into a battle against the Others, would you be willing to fight?” Lena didn’t have to hesitate before answering. Because no matter what she did, she always seemed to end up fighting. 

“I’ll lead the charge, if I have to.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Help! Somebody took my baby! I don’t know what happened, Aaron’s gone!”

Claire’s screams and shouts brought nearly the entire camp running, including Lena. Was in the Others? Was it Rousseau? Was it the smoke monster?

Nope. It was Charlie.

“Claire, I don’t know what happened, I’m sorry!” Charlie exclaimed. He was holding a crying Aaron in his arms and standing by the ocean. “I had a dream-“ 

Claire cut off Charlie’s sentence by slapping him across the face. She took Aaron from his arms and ran as fast as possible, clearly wanting to get away from Charlie.

Lena couldn’t help but feel a little bit of pity for him. Whatever happened, it didn’t exactly seem to be his fault. But whatever it was still didn’t exactly excuse him from baby-stealing. 

…

Then things got out of hand.

First, a fire started in the grass, but it was almost immediately put out thanks to Sayid’s quick thinking. But Claire shouting brought everyones attention to Charlie, running off with Aaron.

“Charlie, please!” Claire yelled. “Stop it!”

“I just wanted to save him!” Charlie shouted back. “Eko, tell them! You said the baby had to be baptized.” But Eko just shook his head, saying something about that not being the way.

Locke took charge of the moment and returned the baby to Claire. And while Charlie begged for her forgiveness, Claire simply walked away, leaving him more alone than ever.

Lena didn’t know what had gotten into Charlie, but she wasn’t going to stick around to find out. Even though that feeling of loneliness, hopelessness, and, most of all, _guilt_ was something Lena has experienced many times before.

…

_Before crashing on the island, before her mother died, even before Joseph, Lena had trained to be an official detective._

_She was quite good at, too. She could handle a gun very well, she knew what to do in most situations, she was relatively smart, and she genuinely wanted to protect people._

_But everything changed that day. She was still in training, and she had gone with a training officer to reply to a 911 call. According the the officer (who’s last name was Jones and first name unknown), the woman on the phone had sounded frantic as she said through sobs that someone was attacking her, and there had been numerous angry shouts in the background._

_So, they arrived at the scene. It was a small house, in a small LA neighborhood. There was nothing remarkable about it at all._

_Looking back on it, it was somehow all a blur and incredibly detailed at the same time. She remembered everything that happened, searching through the house, splitting up, and Lena finding that room._

_The room where a man was standing over a dead woman, with a gun in hand._

_The man in question was incredibly pale, with long, unevenly cut black hair. There were bags under his eyes and a sallowness to his skin that led Lena to believe he was abusing drugs._

_“Put your hands up!” Jones yelled from behind her._

_The man, instead of putting his hands up, turned his gun on Lena, quick as a whip. She heard the clicking of a bullet, and didn’t have any time to think. There was a loud bang, and the man was on the floor with a bullet in his stomach. One that Lena had fired._

_She gasped, dropping the gun on the ground. What had she done? What the hell had she done?_

_Lena barely heard Jones telling her that she did the right thing, that he would have killed her first. But she could barely think, she could barely breathe. She just killed a man!_

_The very next day, Lena quit. She wasn’t charged with a crime, even though she told everyone that she should have been. She felt sick to her stomach. How and why was she walking free?_

…

The next day wasn’t much better. In fact, it was probably worse. 

It didn’t help when the day started with Sawyer and Kate carrying an unconscious and injured Sun into the camp. 

“Oh my god.” Lena whispered as she sprinted over to them. Jack was already on the scene as they laid her down in one of the tents, checking to see if she was alright.

“What happened?” Lena asked, addressing her question at Kate.

“I don’t know.” Kate replied. “We heard screaming, and then found her like this.” Lena looked on worriedly as Jin ran over, shouting in Korean and checking his wife’s pulse. Jack tried to explain that she was going to be alright, and Jin seemed to get the gist because he calmed down.

“She was out cold.” Kate added as Sawyer explained to Jack what happened. “And her hands were tied.” Her hands were tied? There could only be one explanation for that. And everyone seemed to come to the same conclusion.

“They’re back.”

It was Ana Lucia, standing in the back of the group. She was the only one to say it out loud. The Others had returned. 

…

Lena had been standing guard near Sun, a job she had been given by Jack, when she woke up. Lena put her sword away, figuring that it wouldn’t be a comforting sight to her.

“Hey.” Lena said, kneeling down next to her. “How are you feeling?” Simultaneously, Jin asked something as well, probably a similar question.

Sun answered Jin’s question first before saying to Lena that she felt alright. Someone must have gotten Jack, because he was there in a few minutes, ready to be the hero doctor again.

“Do you remember anything?” Jack asked after checking up on Sun’s health. “How many of them were there?”

“I don’t know.” Sun replied in a worried tone. “I didn’t see anything.” She glanced around nervously. Something about it upset her. Well, all of it upset her, and Lena couldn’t blame her. 

Jin, meanwhile, was talking to Jack, but the language barrier held, and no one besides the still-freaked-out Sun could understand him.

“Gun.” Jin said, figuring out the word in English. “Gun!” The pieces clicked into place as Lena realized Jin wanted a gun so he could protect his wife. 

…

Lena had decided to stay out of the whole fight over the guns. She already had her sword, plus a machete and a few knives. As far as weapons went, she figured she was good.

But it was still extremely unsettling to see all the arguing stop as Sawyer fired three shots into the air.

“You gave _him_ the guns?” Jack yelled at Locke. Lena was quite surprised as well. Locke might be slightly crazy, but even he wouldn’t give all the guns away to Sawyer.

“No.” Locke replied, quietly shocked. “I hid them.”

That's right, Jack.” Sawyer yelled, although he was addressing the entire camp. “He's as stupid as you are. You were so busy worrying about each other you never even saw me coming, did you? How about you listen up because I'm only going to say this once. Something else happened, you decided these two boys here were going to tell you what to do and when to do it. Well, I'm done taking orders. And I care about all of my stuff that you took, by the way. The only thing that matters now are guns. And if you want one you're going to have to come to me to get it! You want to torture me, don't you? Show everybody how civilized you are. Go ahead, but I'll die before I give them back. And then you'll really be screwed, won't you? New sheriff in town, boys! You all best get used to it.”

With that, Sawyer walked off, leaving everyone completely shocked. But he had been right. Everyone was so worried about Jack vs. Locke, science and faith, that everyone forgot about Sawyer, the king of cons. And now, he practically held all of their fates in his hands.


	6. Chapter 6

Lena knew if was bound to happen eventually. And the crash and change of environment had slowed it down. But it had been over a month and, much to her displeasure, it was here.

Lena was on her period.

She considered herself lucky that it had stayed away for that long. But still, on that island was probably the very worst place to have it. She just hoped that nothing crazy happened that day so she could rest.

But there was another problem: She needed pads or tampons or _something_. At the moment, she just found a bundle of cloth to hold the blood, but it was uncomfortable, and it wouldn’t last long. Unfortunately for her, there was only one person who might have the supplies she needed. And that was the same guy who just stole the guns. 

Sawyer.

She cautiously approached his tent, which he was just outside of, reading. Ever since the whole gun fiasco, people were staying as far away from him as they could, and he clearly enjoyed that.

“What can I do for you, Blue?” Sawyer asked, not even looking up from his book. Lena was already irritated, partly because, well, it was Sawyer, and partly from period hormones.

“’Blue?’” Lena questioned. “That’s the best you could come up with? Pretty bad for the so-called king of nicknames. Why Blue?” 

“Blue eyes, blue attitude. Look, did you come here for a reason or are you just trying to piss me off?” Sawyer said bluntly. Lena sighed, composed herself, and stated what she came there to do.

“In your stash.” Lena began. “Do you have any… period supplies?” She said the last part of the sentence quietly, embarrassed to be asking Sawyer about this. 

“Hell yeah, I’ve got ‘em.” Sawyer replied. “There were plenty on the plane. But what’s it worth to you?” Anger filled Lena. He was going to make her pay for _pads_?!

“Seriously?!” Lena exclaimed, entirely fed up with the Southern man. “What the fuck are you going to use pads for? It’s not like you have a man-period! Would it kill you to do something semi-nice, for once?!”

“Sounds like someone needs to go calm down.” Sawyer commented. “And everything has a price.” Lena glared at him, and then she stormed away, furious. She didn’t have anything to trade to him that he didn’t already have.

Lena kicked the sand in front of her and muttered curses at Sawyer, including ‘asshole’ ‘son of a bitch’ and other language that was not exactly kind.

“Whoa, what’s wrong with you?” Kate’s voice brought Lena out of her angry-period-zone. She saw the other woman holding some firewood and raising her eyebrows at Lena.

“It’s, um, that time of month.” Lena said sheepishly. Kate’s expression changed to one of understanding, and Lena was suddenly glad that it was a woman and not a man who found her like this. “Did you get yours yet here?”

“During the second week, actually.” Kate replied. Lena winced just thinking about it, how awful that must have been. At least at the current moment, they mostly had everything figured out. “But there were still supplies in the plane, and I managed to get enough to last me through the week.”

“Do you still have any?” Lena asked hopefully. If Sawyer wouldn’t help her, surely Kate would.

“I used them all, I’m sorry.” Kate said sadly. “And I can tell from what I just saw that you already asked Sawyer.” Lena laughed slightly and nodded towards the ground. “I’ll tell you what: I’ll talk to him, see if I can get him to give me some supplies.”

“Really?” Lena asked in disbelief. Kate nodded in reply. “Oh my god, thank you!” She would have said more, but then a cramp hit, and she put her hands to her stomach in pain. Kate suggested that she should go to see Jack or Sun before taking the firewood to its intended resting place.

Still, she felt a little bit happier after that exchange.

…

For the rest of the day, Lena avoided everyone. 

She didn’t want to alienate anyone she liked, and she certainly didn’t want to give people she didn’t like a reason to hate her. She especially avoided the guys, figuring that women would at least understand.

So it was an absolute relief when Kate plopped down in the sand next to her, holding a handful of pads and a few tampons.

“Here you go.” She said, handing Lena the pile of supplies.

“Kate, you are literally the best person ever.” Lena exclaimed, happily taking them. She never thought that she would be so happy over pads, but there she was. “How did you convince Sawyer to give you these?”

“He listens to me, I guess.” Kate said with a shrug. “I don’t think he really cared about keeping them, he just wanted to annoy you.”

“Well, he certainly succeeded in that department.” Lena sighed. Kate laughed, and soon, Lena found herself laughing as well. It was good to know that there were people on the island that she could count on. People that were her friends. 

…

The next day, Lena was feeling even worse. In her opinion, the second day of a period was always the most painful and most bloody.

She used the supplies sparingly, keeping in mind that she might need them again next month. But that didn’t stop the pain of the cramps. Neither did the pain medicine that Jack gave her, for some reason.

So, remembering Kate’s suggestion, Lena went to Sun.

The woman in question was working in her garden, and Lena knew the way. She made sure to let Sun know that it was her, as she didn’t want to scare her after she had nearly been captured by the Others.

“Hello, Lena.” Sun said. “Is everything alright.”  
“Yes- no- kind of.” Lena stuttered. “I’m, uh, on my period, and the pain medicine isn’t really doing anything, so I was wondering if you know about anything that can help…” She trailed off awkwardly, realizing that she had never really talked to Sun much before now.

“I’m not exactly sure what to do in this specific situation.” Sun began. “But I can give you something that I believe will help the pain.” She handed Lena a bundle of leaves from a plant in the corner, and she took them gratefully.

“Sun, thank you so much.” Lena said as Sun handed her the leaves. “I don’t have a lot of supplies or useful skills, but if you ever need someone to fight somebody else, I’m here.” 

“I’ll think about it.” Sun replied with a little laugh. 

Lena smiled, and thought about what she had been thinking the other day. Many people on that island were genuinely good people, no matter what happened in their pasts. In fact, their pasts didn’t even matter. Everyone had a fresh start.


	7. Chapter 7

Lena had that feeling. That feeling in her gut, that something was going to happen. Still, nothing of significance had occurred yet, so she was reading a copy of Sherlock Holmes that she found in one of the bags.

When Kate pulled the flap to her tent open, she wasn’t even surprised.

“Are my services required?” Lena said in an awful British accent, trying to sound unnecessarily formal.

“Ha ha.” Kate said with no emotion in her voice whatsoever. “Aaron is sick, really sick. And then last night, Rousseau came and told Claire that he was infected.”

“And this concerns me… how?” Lena asked. That problem didn’t really seem like much compared to what she had been expecting. Knowing Claire and the past events involving her baby, there was a chance it wasn’t as serious as Kate made it out to be.

“ _And_ Libby, that woman from the tail section, helped Claire get some memories back.” Kate continued. “You know, from the time she was with Ethan. We’re going to find Rousseau and the place where she was held. I’m asking you to come with us, Lena.”

Lena contemplated it for a moment. As boring as _another_ trek through the jungle sounded, she was always up for a good mystery.

“Let’s do it.”

…

Danielle Rousseau, surprisingly, had not been very hard to find, although Lena suspected that it was because the French woman revealed herself to them. Either way, she agreed to take the determined Claire to the place she was looking for, and Lena and Kate just seemed to be along for the ride. 

“Why are we stopping here?” Claire asked as Danielle came to a stop at a seemingly random spot in the jungle.

“This is where you scratched me.” Danielle replied simply, glancing at the marks on her arm. Lena had to admit, she had a hard time believing that Claire had scratched her that hard. “Where too we go next?”

“Why are you asking me?” Claire asked. “There’s nothing here, you’re supposed to tell me where to go!” Clearly she was angry, as she thought Danielle would have answers, when she clearly didn’t.

“Where is this place?” Danielle demanded. Somehow, she seemed just as determined as Claire to find whatever it was she was looking for, and Lena didn’t have a clue as to why.

Claire and Danielle continued to yell at each other until Danielle suddenly grabbed Claire by the arm, prompting Lena to whip out her sword and Kate to pull out the gun that Sawyer had given her.

“Get your hands off of her.” Kate growled, moving closer to Danielle. Lena felt slightly stupid for having a sword among all the guns, but she kept it out anyways. After all, she still didn’t know the full extent of its powers. 

Claire, meanwhile, was ignoring all the drama, and she started walking along the trail they had been going on. Kate glared at Danielle one last time before following Claire. 

Lena sighed, sheathed her sword, and followed them all well. She was slightly starting to regret coming on that mission.

…

“This is it!” Claire yelled, staring at a mass of leaves and branches. It had started to rain, and even Kate was beginning to doubt a little bit. 

“Claire, where are you going?” Lena asked. 

“Leave her alone.” Danielle said sharply. Both Lena and Kate gaped at Danielle. One second she was nearly attacking Claire, and the next she was completely supportive of her?

But, it turned out, Claire and Danielle were right. Because, as Claire pulled at the branches, a door became clear. A door that looked eerily similar to the one that led to the hatch.

“Are you sure about this?” Lena wondered aloud. Claire didn’t respond. Instead, she opened the door, revealing a long, dark hallway. And she didn’t hesitate before going in.

“Alright, I guess we’re doing this.” Lena muttered. She pulled out her sword yet again, and it cast an eerie glow throughout the hall. Kate had a flashlight, but the light was small compared to the vast size of whatever the place was.

The four women ended up splitting up. Lena found some sort of control room, and she flicked a switch experimentally. As soon as she did that, all of the lights came on, and Lena was pretty sure she heard Kate jump when that happened.

She refrained from flicking any more switches, knowing that she had gotten lucky that time. She didn’t want to destroy the place or accidentally hurt someone.

“Hey, Lena!” Kate called out from a nearby room. “You should see this.” Lena, as curious as ever, abandoned the odd control room and followed the sound of Kate’s voice to see a room full of lockers.

Kate was holding up a fake beard and some stage glue, looking confused by the objects in her hands.

“One of the Others had a beard like this.” Kate explained. “And clothes like the ones in the locker. Why would they need this stuff?”

“I have no idea.” Lena replied. Why would the Others need that, especially when they had access to a place like the one they were in now?

Lena’s thoughts were interrupted by a large groaning of metal. Kate and Lena glanced at each other quickly before Kate dropped the beard and glue. The two of them made their way over to the source of the noise, which turned out to be Claire and Danielle trying to move some kind of cabinet. It was facedown, and they seemed to be trying to get it upright.

“The vaccine is in here.” Claire explained quickly. It took no further explanation, as Lena and Kate immediately got on opposite sides of the cabinet. Kate counted to three, and the four of them managed to lift it up.

Claire opened it eagerly, but Lena saw her face fall as she stared at the contents. Lena peeked over Claire’s shoulder to see the cabinet completely empty.

“No!” Claire yelled. “The vaccine was here, I know it was! Where is it? You, you were taking me back here! Where is it?” The last part was addressed to Danielle, who looked just as surprised as them rest of them.

Suddenly, Claire let out a loud gasp and clutched her head. Lena moved forward to help, but Kate grabbed her arm and pulled her back. If Kate was doing that, then maybe whatever Claire was seeing was a good thing.

“You were trying to save me.” Claire whispered to Danielle. At that moment, Lena understood. Claire’s memory had finally returned.

“I carried you on my back to your camp.” Danielle replied. “I left them where they would find you. And Claire, you’re not the only one who didn’t find what they were looking for.”

“Your daughter.” Claire realized. “What was her name.”

“Alex.” Danielle answered quietly. Surprised by Claire’s question. “Alexandra.” To Lena, everything started to make sense. Danielle’s child, that’s who she had been looking for.

“I remember a girl with blue eyes.” Claire said. “She helped me. She wasn’t like the rest of the Others. She was good.” Danielle took one last sad look at Claire before walking off into the jungle, disappearing into the trees like she always did. 

…

It turned out, Aaron was not infected. The sickness was simply a passing fever, which Jack said was common with young babies.

Lena was glad she decided to go with them that day. Because she found that she understood Claire a bit more. And she was definitely beginning to understand the mystery that was Danielle Rousseau.

If only she could understand the rest of the island’s mysteries as well.


	8. Chapter 8

“Looks like I win, Han Solo.” Lena said, sweeping up the various supplies that had been put in the betting pool, all the while secretly proud of nicknaming the king of nicknames. And Sawyer’s facial expression was hilarious, although Lena didn’t know if it was the fact that she won or the fact that she called him by a nickname that made him both shocked and slightly angry.

“Oh come on!” Sawyer exclaimed. “Royal flush? Really?” Lena, Sawyer, Kate, and Hurley were all on the beach, playing poker. So far, Lena was doing pretty good. And Sawyer… not so much. 

The day before had brought very exciting news: Sun was pregnant. Jin had been running around the camp, yelling the good news happily in broken-up English. It was one of the happier moments of the island, and it made Lena feel really good.

It was amazing, as well, how upon first arriving to the island, Jin had been sort of an asshole, even to Sun. But he had become a very sweet, caring man. So, at least something good had come out of the crash.

“Well, you all seem to have some good cards.” A voice said after they had started the next round. “Although I wouldn’t play that, Hurley.” Lena looked up to see none other than Jack, standing over their little poker circle. 

“Oh, you think because you watch poker on TV you can tussle with the big boys?” Sawyer said playfully. Jack just rolled his eyes and started to walk away, calling out something about getting back to the hatch. “Oh, the hatch, that’s your excuse? Come on, Doc.”

“I guess I could play a few rounds.” Jack said, putting down his backpack and taking a seat. Lena raised her eyebrows. The game was sure to get interesting.

…

“I’m out.” Lena sighed, folding her cards down on the sand. Although, she, Kate, and Hurley weren’t really playing to win anymore. That was just Sawyer and Jack. 

“You got me.” Hurley added, flinging his cards down dramatically. Kate smirked and put down her cards as well, leaving the two guys as the only ones in.

“Well, I guess that’s it.” Jack said, showing his cards. It was a good hand, probably better than whatever Sawyer had. “I’ve got it all, and it wouldn’t really be fair for you to go pick more mangoes, Sawyer.”

“Oh, you want to play real stakes?” Sawyer asked. “You name ‘em, doc. And I want that fruit back.”

“You two are acting like children.” Lena remarked. Kate could barely hold in her laughter.

“Come on.” Kate said. “Let’s leave these boys to their sandbox.” Lena laughed as she, Kate, and Hurley gladly walked away from the game, and they ended up going in separate directions once they reached the main camp. 

Lena briefly wondered where Sayid was, but she figured he was either at the hatch, getting supplies, or just walking in the jungle. It was nothing to worry about, she told herself, although she didn’t remember seeing him yesterday, either.

_Why do I care so much?_

And Lena couldn’t answer that question. 

…

_Lena’s sister was in a tough spot._

_Again._

_Lena ended up on a plane to Miami, ready to help out Marie in any way that she could. Whether it was about money, or housing, or she just needed Lena to beat somebody up._

_Marie hadn’t told her the extent of the situation. So she was completely shocked when she arrived on Marie’s doorstep and saw her sister covered in bruises._

_“Oh my god.” Lena whispered. “What the hell happened!” Something about her words seemed to pierce Marie, because she broke down and started to cry._

_“I-it was h-him!” She sobbed. “I t-told him to go away b-b-but he won’t leave me alone.”_

_“Who?” Lena asked. “Who did this to you?” Marie started to compose herself, and Lena waited impatiently as she calmed down._

_“His name is Bates.” Marie explained. “We were dating, but he started to h-hit me…. I told him to leave, but he wouldn’t, Lena, he won’t go.”_

_“Tell me where he lives.” Lena demanded. “I’ll kick his ass.” Marie, through her tears, smiled at Lena gratefully. But never, not once, was there a ‘thank you.’_

…

“A man. In the hatch. One of the Others.” 

Jack nodded, and Lena gaped at him in disbelief. Just a few minutes ago, Jack had come up to her and had given her that insane news. She _thought_ he was going to tell her that he beat Sawyer in the poker game, which Lena already knew about. But no, instead, she got that.

“And you didn’t want to tell anyone?!” Lena exclaimed.

“We didn’t want to cause a panic.” Jack countered. “And a good amount of people know, now including you.”

“Alright.” Lena said. “Why did you decide to tell me now?”

“Because now, we know for sure that he’s one of the Others.” Jack explained. “Sayid, Ana Lucia, and Charlie went to find his balloon - long story - and Sayid dug up a grave and found the real Henry Gale.” 

That was a lot of information to process. They had finally managed to capture one of the Others, they finally had an advantage of sorts. And Sayid had dug up a grave? Well, it seemed that it was a good thing that he did.

“Is there anything else I should know?” Lena asked in a slightly annoyed tone of voice.

“Yeah, actually.” Jack replied. “We just found a parachute full of food.” 

…

In the back of her mind, Lena knew they should probably conserve the food.

But in that moment, she didn’t care whatsoever. There was so much of it, too. All DHARMA brand, but still real food. Enough to last them a while, even if they didn’t take the time to save it.

Finally, Lena had found what she had been hoping was in there. The official name on the box was ‘DHARMA Initiative Chocolate Cream Cookies but they were just Oreos. 

Besides that, though, she had managed to get microwavable mac-and-cheese, which she figured she could make in the hatch. There was also a weirdly large box of crackers, and some cereal.

But, even the food couldn’t distract her from the pressing matter at hand, that being the man in the hatch. Questions swam throughout Lena’s mind, questions to which she had no answers.

Who was he? Where did he come from? What did he want?


	9. Chapter 9

“Sayid did _what_?!”

“He tried to kill the guy in the hatch.” Jack repeated. “He would have succeeded too, if it weren’t for Ana Lucia.” _Well, three cheers for Ana Lucia_ , Lena thought sarcastically. 

“Do you know why?” Lena asked. Sayid was usually the voice of reason, the guy with all the common sense. Why did he do something like that?

“No.” Jack sighed. “But I need your help. I think he trusts you, and I just need you to calm him down.”

“And what makes you think I could do that?” Lena replied. She was not very good with people, and she was even worse at calming people down. Usually she was the one that needed to be calmed down, after all. 

“I don’t know if you can.” Jack said. “But out of everyone here, you have the best chance.” Lena let out a very long sigh as she contemplated it. And the more she thought about it, the more she knew Jack was right.

“Okay.” Lena said. “I’ll try.”

…

It wasn’t hard to for Lena to find Sayid. He hadn’t even gone that far from the hatch. He had found a spot in the jungle that overlooked an area of the beach that was unoccupied. 

“Did Jack send you?” Sayid asked without turning around. Lena noted that it was becoming a very common occurrence for her to walk up behind Sayid and he addressed her without looking to see who it was. Maybe he just always assumed it was her. You’re getting predictable, Lena. 

“Yes.” Lena answered honestly. “He said you tried to kill someone.”

“One of the Others!” Sayid exclaimed defensively, suddenly angry. “You’ve all forgotten! Ethan, who kidnapped Claire, nearly killed Charlie, and did kill someone else! And let’s not ignore whoever it was that stole Walt off the raft. These people deserve to die.”

“Jack also said you tortured the guy before you even knew who he was.”

“Well I was right, wasn’t I?” Sayid replied. Lena glanced down at the ground. The guy standing before her was not the Sayid she had come to know during their time on the island. But, she could also tell that neither was a front, a mask. There were many sides to him, and she just happened to see more than one. 

“Look, I don’t know why Jack sent me here.” She said. “I mean, I know why, but I don’t know why he chose me. I don’t think he knows why he chose me. So… I guess I’ll go now. I don’t have anything to offer.” 

Lena started to walk off, back towards the beach. Why did Jack think she could do anything? After all, no one on the island really knew each other. At least, not that well.

“Wait.” Sayid called out. “I never did take you up on that offer. To talk, about what happened to Shannon.” Lena froze in her tracks. Despite what he had said earlier, Lena had not been expecting Sayid to actually do it.

“Uh, alright.” Lena said, walking back over and sitting down next to him. “Say what you need to say, let it all out. I’ll listen.” 

“People didn’t understand how strong she was.” Sayid began. “Not on the outside, but on the inside. Everyone underestimated her, they all thought she was a joke. Especially after Boone died, she felt useless. She didn’t deserve what she got, not at all. She died before her time came.”  
Sayid continued on and on, talking about Shannon and who she was and how much she meant to him. Somewhere along the way, he had started to cry, but Lena didn’t say anything. 

She understood most of it now. He was keeping everything locked up inside him, every emotion. And it was all coming out. Shannon had gotten to see that side of him, the side that didn’t any emotions back. And now Lena could see, Sayid was not the man he wanted everyone to believe he was.

Deep, deep down, he was a better person than even he thought he was. Something had happened in his past, something bad.

…

That afternoon, the absolute best thing ever happened.

It was a pretty normal afternoon, up until that point. Sayid was doing much better, and he had gone a bit further into the jungle to get some fruit. They couldn’t live off just the DHARMA food, after all. 

Lena had been helping Jin and Sun with fishing, and she had just finished changing out of her fish-smelling clothes and into semi-clean ones when she heard some shouting outside. 

And, as it turned out, Hurley attacked Sawyer.

He seemed to have shoved him into the tent, because all she saw was two blobs under the tarp fighting. A few feet away from her, Jin and Sun were watching the whole thing go down as well, along with a few other people. Everyone was incredibly amused. 

Sawyer crawled out of the collapsed tent, but Hurley followed, punching him over and over, repeating nicknames that Sawyer had once called him.

Jin had apparently decided to have some pity for Sawyer, as he ran towards them and pulled Hurley away. Lena, for one, didn’t want to break up the fight at all. Especially after the whole thing with the pads, she felt that Sawyer deserved it.

…

Nighttime brought a shift in the hatch. And a shift now meant more than just pressing the button. It also meant guarding the Other, who’s alias was Henry Gale. 

Locke had given Lena permission to talk to him for a few minutes. She didn’t want to do much, just get a feel for who he was.

She had not been expecting someone so weak-looking, still bloody from Sayid’s torture. And yet, there was a dark look in his eyes that scared Lena. It scared her very much.

“So, you’re the newest one they sent to interrogate me.” He said. “Are you going to stab me, or something?” He pointed to her sword, which was resting in the sheath at her hip, as per usual. Her stropped her arm so that it covered the handle, and continued on as planned.

“Trust me, I’m not going to interrogate you.” Lena said. “If Sayid and Ana Lucia couldn’t do it, I have no chance whatsoever.” 

“Then why exactly are you here?” ‘Henry’ asked. He had a creepy way of talking, as if he knew every secret in the world. Although, Lena doubted it.

“I thought I’d see it for myself.” She replied. “You’re famous, you know. Everyone’s talking about Henry Gale. Well, that’s not really your name, but we don’t know yours.” 

“No.” He said. “But we know yours, Lena Hale Ashford. We know everything about you and the rest of your friends. We know about your sister, Marie, and what you said to her the day before your flight. We know about your mother, who died from cancer. We know about the man you killed while working as a detective. And we know about Joseph Hale, how he jumped off a bridge. Quite a shame, isn’t it, that you couldn’t save him. You can’t save anyone Lena, because no matter how much you pretend, how much you convince yourself that you feel guilty about everything you’ve done, you’re a killer, just like the rest of them.“

Lena panicked and practically ran from the room, slamming the door shut behind her. Breaths came in odd bursts as the room swam before her eyes. She held on to the end of a nearby table as she tried and failed to catch her breath.

The Others knew those things about her. They knew about her past, they knew about everything. Henry Gale had tried to hit her weak spots, and he succeeded.

Lena was terrified.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year everyone! It is officially 2021 (so technically I haven't updated since last year). I'm not usually overly optimistic about anything, but hopefully this year will be better than the last one. Have a good New Years Day, and I will see you all on Sunday with the next chapter!


	10. Chapter 10

Lena didn’t get scared easily.

Well, not real world stuff. Horror movies were a much different story. But usually, there were two possible situations when something did scare her like that, the first being that it was completely and utterly terrifying to everybody.

But the second one was worse. The second one was where something got inside her head, past all the invisible protective walls she had put up.

And that second form of fear was exactly what she was feeling. 

Lena ran through the jungle, still finding it hard to breathe after her encounter with Henry Gale. He knew everything about her, all the personal details, all the darkness. Every single one of the Others did. 

She tried so hard to keep people from finding out about her past, from seeing past her façades. But whatever personal protections she put up didn’t seem to be enough. 

She stopped running when she reached a stream flowing through the jungle. She practically fell into the mud, feeling the cold sludge beneath her hands, and making not attempt to get up.

What was wrong with her? How had this man so easily unsettled her and messed with her mind? Everything she had been trying to block out since crashing all rushed back to her. Joseph, Marie, her mother… everything.

…

_“Lena, what have you done?” Marie yelled as Lena walked through her front door, covered in blood._

_“I did exactly what you asked me to.” Lena replied. “I found your guy, and I dealt with him.” But, looking back on it, what she did wasn’t really what Marie asked of her._

_She didn’t intend to kill the man. Even after what Marie had told her, about how he hurt her and he wouldn’t leave her alone. But as soon as he opened his mouth and said all those foul things about her sister, rage took over, and he ended up dead. It was an accident, that was what she kept telling herself._

_But Lena didn’t even regret it._

_“I covered the tracks and evidence, no one will find out what happened-“ Lena began after seeing the worried look on her sister’s face. Marie’s interruption, however, made it clear that she was upset for a different reason._

_“Did you kill him?” Marie demanded. Lena didn’t say anything, but Marie seemed to figure it out from her silence. “I didn’t want you to kill him, Lena! You weren’t supposed to-“_

_“Well maybe you should have fought your own battle instead of getting me to do it!” Lena yelled, immediately regretting her shouting when she saw her sister’s face. She spoke again, but this time in a quieter tone. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I needed to confirm that he couldn’t hurt you anymore.”_

_“I know.” Marie whispered. “But there’s still a problem. I’m, well…. I’m pregnant.”_

…

Lena shouldn’t have killed that man, no matter what he’d done. She never should have killed anyone, ever. But she did, and she just couldn’t seem to stop.

I was a good person once, I know I was, she thought to herself. But was that even true? At a young age, she was still stealing and lying for her family, and for herself.

Lena suddenly remembered her sword, and she gripped the handle tightly. As soon as her hand brushed against the cold metal, she felt better. But even the sword couldn’t take away the awful feeling inside her.

She slid the sword out of the sheath and held it in the palms of her hands. Its usual glow had faded slightly, and she briefly wondered if that had anything to do with what she was going through at the moment.

Lena flicked the sword with her fingers, and it made a shallow cut on her left wrist. She led it bleed freely into the stream, and she watched her blood mix with the water. She didn’t know what was going on with her, or why she had suddenly cracked.

Perhaps every little thing that had been happening on the island had chipped at her just a little, bit by bit, and Henry Gale’s outburst was the last straw. It felt like her mind was scrambled and that she wasn’t in control of anything, not even the sword. 

She let out a loud scream. In the back of her mind, she hoped that no one was around to hear her, but she wasn’t thinking rationally at all. Quite the opposite, in fact. But still, she really shouldn’t have been surprised when she heard a voice other than her own.

“Lena?”

_Oh fuck._

Lena scrambled to get up, trying to somehow look as if she was perfectly fine. She shoved her sword back into the sheath, messily tied a loose piece of cloth around her small wound, and stood up as fast as she could, just as the person who had spoken stepped into view.

Sayid. 

“I, um… hi.” Lena said awkwardly with a little wave. 

“John said you ran from the hatch in a panic.” Sayid replied. Lena mentally cursed. She had completely forgotten that Locke had been in the hatch as well. “And when I came to see if you were alright, I heard you screaming.”

“Well, you must have heard wrong, because I am perfectly fine.” She said, trying to sound convincing. She really wasn’t fine, but she didn’t want anyone to know that. 

“If you’re fine, then why is your hand bloody and shaking?” Sayid pointed out. Lena actually hadn’t noticed that little detail. She looked down at her left hand, where her cut was still bleeding, and saw that it was, in fact, shaking. She clenched her hand into a fist in order to stop it, but she still felt pretty shaky. 

“I-“ Lena started to say, but she was cut off by the unmistakable sound of the smoke monster. And, from what Lena heard, it was coming right towards them.

“Shit!” She exclaimed. “Run!” Neither of them needed to be told twice. They took off through the jungle, wordlessly pushing branches and leaves aside as they sprinted as fast as they could. Sayid was much faster than Lena, but she managed to keep up alright.

But, the smoke monster was, well, literal smoke, and it was gaining on them quickly.

What Lena did next was a complete spur of the moment. She really had no idea what she was doing, and it was as if her sword was taking over her movements. She yanked it out of her sheath and sliced it through the air twice, making an ‘X.’

From the center of the X, a transparent, shimmering gold sheet spread out, creating some kind of energy shield. As soon as the smoke monster caught up to it, it smashed into the shield and recoiled back.

“Since when can you do that?” Sayid asked. He had stopped a few feet behind her, and he was staring at the shield in awe.

“Since, like, one second ago.” Lena replied breathlessly. It wasn’t really her that had created the shield, it was the sword. But she noticed the corners of the shield starting to disappear. “I think it’s fading, though. We should get out of here-“ But the shield was fading quicker than she thought, and the smoke monster was nearly through. 

The intense running continued, and for once, Lena was grateful as the island, as it had gotten her into great shape. 

“Down here!” Lena whisper-yelled, pulling Sayid into a hollow tree with a small hole at the bottom. They crouched there together as the smoke monster hurtled past, not noticing them.

“Are we alive?” Lena whispered.

“Yes, I think so.” Sayid replied with a slight laugh. And despite everything, Lena laughed as well. It truly astonished her how the events of the day had turned just like that, and it also amazed her how an encounter with a smoke monster made her day better. 

_Only on the island_ , she thought. Only in that place could something that crazy happen. The day Lena had seemed like a reminder coming from the island itself: The place was full of mysteries just waiting to be uncovered.


	11. Chapter 11

A rather big surprise came the next day. Well multiple surprises actually. Some good, some very, very bad.

The first one, which was good, was that Michael came back. He walked out of the jungle, followed by Jack and a few others. He looked awful, but at least he was alive.

Then came the bad.

Lena’s eyes floated beyond Michael and saw Kate, Hurley, and Sawyer digging graves. 

“Who died?” Lena whispered among the happy remarks to Michael about him coming back. 

“Ana Lucia and Libby.” He replied sadly. Lena sucked in a sharp breath. Libby, who was nice to everyone and was always willing to help. And Ana Lucia, who Lena didn’t know very well, but had a good heart.

“What happened to them?” Sun asked, horrified. But it was Michael’s reply that truly unsettled Lena to her core.

“They were murdered."

…

There was even more to the story than Michael had told her. In the end, it had been Kate who broke the news: Henry Gale escaped, killed Libby and Ana Lucia, and shot Michael in the shoulder.

It was very unnerving for Lena that he was on the loose. She was still shaken up from knowing that the Others knew everything about her. But at least they had leverage against them. Now, any advantage they had been holding was gone.

“Why do so many people have to die?” Lena whispered aloud to herself. She really didn’t want to know the answer to that question, and, more specifically, why did so many good people have to die?

She supposed that she would never know.

…

The funeral was a very sad event. Lena thought about how she had been to more funerals on the island than she had in her entire life before the crash. 

“Ana Lucia Cortez was a police officer.” Jack began, speaking for Ana Lucia. No one really knew her that well, another tragedy in itself. You’re never truly gone when someone still remembers you, but not many people knew much about Ana Lucia. “I don’t think it was easy for her being here, but she did the best she could. Rest in peace, Ana.” 

Everyone looked to Hurley next. He had finally gotten the courage to ask out Libby, and she said yes… just before she died. 

“Libby was a psychologist, or a psychiatrist… one of those.” Hurley said, tears falling from his eyes. “Either way, she probably helped out a lot of people. She helped me. It’s not fair that this happened to her. Goodbye, Libby.” The last part was said in a whisper, as if he couldn’t bear to go on. 

And then, in true island fashion, things got crazy again.

“Boat!” Sun suddenly yelled. “Boat!”

Lena, and everyone else, whirled around, facing the ocean to see that there was, in fact, a sailboat in the water, heading straight for the beach. 

A thought passed Lena’s mind about feeling awful for Ana Lucia and Libby, who’s funeral had been interrupted. But there was a boat coming right for the island, so mourning would have to wait. 

“Are we saved?” Charlie asked excitedly, but no one replied. Several splashes could be heard as Jack, Sayid and, surprisingly, Sawyer swam out towards the boat. 

Lena contemplated going after them, but she figured they had it under control, and she was tired of fighting all the time. Hopefully, though, whoever was on the boat was friendly. 

And maybe, whoever it was could even get them rescued.

…

Lena was slightly disappointed when she found out who it was. Although, her disappointment was small, because the man in the boat did know a lot about the island, and, more specifically, the hatch.

Because the man in the boat was Desmond Hume, also known as the guy from the hatch.

Of course, most people had no idea who Desmond was, leaving the ones who did, including Lena, bombarded with questions.

“Who is he?”

“Is he going to save us?” 

“What’s going on?”

Lena and Kate were surrounded by their fellow island survivors, and they were all very confused and curious. The two of them were trying to answer all the questions, but that was virtually impossible.

“Okay, um, just one second.” Kate said as she spotted Jack walking near them. “I’ll be right back, okay?”

“‘Stab this guy, Lena’ ‘Answer all the questions, Lena’ ‘Fight off the smoke monster, Lena.’” She grumbled, more to herself than to anyone else. Her reply to Kate was in a much less grouchy tone, although her voice was still laced with sarcasm. “Yeah, Kate, you go talk to your boyfriend.” 

Kate rolled her eyes, but she jogged over to Jack, presumably to talk to him about the whole Desmond situation. Thankfully, not long after Kate had abandoned her, Sayid came over to the group. 

“Can I borrow you for a second?” He asked. Lena sighed with relief at finally having an excuse to get away from the questions and demands.

“Yes, please do.” She replied. She told the curious survivors that she would be back soon, which was a lie, and she followed Sayid down the beach.

“You’re aware of Michael’s plan, right?” Sayid asked. Lena nodded. Kate had told her about it earlier, how she, Jack, Michael, Sawyer, and Hurley were going to get Walt back. “Michael is working with the Others, but he doesn’t know that we know.”

“And who is ‘we’ exactly?” Lena wondered.

“For now, just you, me, and Jack.” Sayid replied. Lena had to admit, she was slightly surprised to be the third person knowing about this. Still, she was happy that she was trusted. “They’re going to go through with Michael’s plan, and I am going to take Desmond’s boat to the Others’s camp. If everything goes well, we can stop them, save Walt, and all come back safely.”

“Alright.” Lena said. “When do we leave?” 

“Actually, that’s why I am here.” Sayid said. “With Jack and the others going with Michael, Locke is in the hatch, and I will be on the boat, I need someone to take care of everything here. Be in charge, and defend against any attacks, if needed.”

 _Well, Lena, you did say that you wanted everyone to stop asking you to fight,_ her brain said. Lena told it to shut up. The phrase ‘be careful what you wish for’ just became reality. She had gotten annoyed with everyone coming to her for various missions, but now, being left behind… she wanted to fight.

But Sayid was right. Someone had to do it.

“Okay, I can do that.” She said. Sayid visibly relaxed. Clearly he had been expecting more of an argument from her. “Good luck out there.” Sayid nodded and smiled slightly before going to talk to Jin and Sun. They after all, knew how to sail, and Lena was assuming that Sayid didn’t.

When Lena really thought about it, crashing on the island was a good thing for her. Before, in the real word, she hadn’t exactly been leading the best life. But on the island, she was trusted. On the island, her skills were useful, not frowned upon. On the island, she had friends, people she would kill for.

Some people, she would even die for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well everyone, I am done with Season 2! Like I said at the beginning of this book, Uncharted will also consist of Season 3, so this is not the end of the book (Season 2 gave me way less content than I had hoped for when I started writing this). Anyways, I will see you all on Sunday with the next chapter!


	12. Chapter 12

The day had only gotten a whole lot weirder after everyone left.

For a while, it had been relatively normal, except for the fact that Lena was worried out of her mind. One moment, everything was fine, and then, all of a sudden, the ground had started to shake, and the sky turned completely bright. All sound seemed to fade except for a loud whistle penetrating the air.

As soon as it came, however, it had stopped. 

Neither Jack’s group nor Sayid’s group had returned from their respective missions, leaving Lena in charge and full of worry, yet again. She knew that everyone who had gone knew what they were doing, but she just couldn’t help it. 

One plus was that Locke had finally gotten back from the hatch, although that plus quickly turned into a minus when he avoided everyone and apparently couldn’t speak. The other two people who had been at the hatch, Eko and Desmond, were nowhere to be found.

Clearly something had gone down at the hatch. Something big. And yet somehow, that was the very least of Lena’s problems.

…

“Hey, Lena, can I talk to you for a second?” It was Claire, jogging up the beach towards her. 

“Sure.” Lena replied. She was glad to see a friendly face, and Claire was as friendly as they came. Although, the friendly face would probably be asking a lot of questions. 

“What’s really going on?” Claire asked. Yep, questions. “With Jack and everyone else attacking the Others, and then Sayid, Jin, and Sun going on the boat…” Lena sighed. There was no point in lying anymore, especially to Claire.

“Michael is working with the Others.” Lena explained. “He’s leading them into a trap so he can get Walt back. Sayid, Jin, and Sun are helping Jack stop him.” Claire simply stared at her in shock.

“But, shouldn’t we be helping them?” Claire exclaimed. “They can’t fight the Others on their own, we know they can’t-“

“It wasn’t exactly my decision, Claire!” Lena snapped. She immediately regretted her harsh tone as soon as she saw the look on Claire’s face. “Sorry, I’m sorry. It’s been kind of stressful lately. But that’s not really an excuse. Sorry.”  
Claire mumbled something about it being okay before saying that she had to go take care of Aaron, and she walked away quickly.

 _Great job,_ Lena thought sarcastically. _You just managed to drive away one of the nicest people on the island._

...

Lena had never been so happy to see the face of Hugo Reyes.

“Hurley, thank god!” She exclaimed as he emerged from the jungle, followed by a very oddly-clothed Desmond. She wasn’t going to get to hung up over the man’s fashion choices, but a giant tie-dye t-shirt with no pants didn’t really seem like the next big fashion trend.

“Where are Jack, Kate, and Sawyer?” She asked. She couldn’t read the look on Hurley’s face, but a sinking feeling in her stomach told Lena that whatever happened wasn’t good. 

“They took them.” Hurley said quietly. “Michael sold us out, and the Others took them.” At that point, most of the beach survivors had gathered around, and there was a collective gasp as the news was heard. 

“What about Sayid?” Lena persisted. “And Jin and Sun? Are they okay?” She felt bad about asking Hurley more questions, but she couldn’t help it. Her friends were in danger, and she couldn’t do anything about it.

Hurley shrugged as if to say he didn’t know. Lena didn’t say anything else to him, figuring that he probably felt guilty even though he didn’t do anything wrong.

“Okay, what about you?” She asked, turning towards Desmond, who was rifling through a pile of clothes, probably trying to find better ones than the shirt he was wearing. “What the hell happened at the hatch?”

“I blew it up.” He replied nonchalantly. “I plugged in the bloody failsafe key and it imploded.” Lena gaped at him. Sure, pushing the button sucked, but the hatch gave them shelter, food, supplies. And now it was a hole in the ground

She was about to say something else when, somehow, the day got even stranger, and worse.

Charlie and Locke practically sprinted from the jungle, carrying an unconscious and bloody Eko along with them.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Lena muttered as everyone became aware of the new development. She couldn’t believe it. Jack and the others were gone for one day, and everything was already going to hell. 

“Dude, is he alive?” Hurley asked as Locke and Charlie set him down in one of the unoccupied tents. 

“We need Jack!” A woman who Lena didn’t know the name of exclaimed. That, however, was going to be a bit of a problems since apparently Jack had just been captured by the Others.

Lena decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and assumed that she hadn’t heard Hurley, and she ran over to the tent to see exactly what had happened.

People started bombarding Locke with questions as he turned around to face everyone. Lena had to admit, she was pretty happy to not be the one people went to for answers anymore.

“I don’t know!” Locke yelled over everyone. “I’m going to find our friends. I don’t know how, but I will, and I’ll bring them home. But first, we have to look after Mr. Eko. Claire, I need you to get all of the first aid supplies from Jack’s tent. You two, get some towels and water. And you, get some easily eat-able food. Lena, I know you’re not a doctor, but I need you to stop the bleeding.” Lena raised her eyebrows, but didn’t say anything. She had zero medical experience, but she was pretty sure that she didn’t need any of it just to put pressure on a wound.

She knelt down next to the still-unconscious Eko and noticed that his wounds didn’t look nearly as bad up close. None of them were too deep, and they weren’t bleeding as heavily. 

“You’re going to be okay.” She whispered to him. And, she was partially saying that to herself as well. Everything was going to be okay.


	13. Chapter 13

Lena had managed to keep things in order for the rest of that day and nearly the whole next one. She wasn’t nearly as bad at leading as she thought she would be, but she still didn’t like it. 

She was changing Eko’s bandages when a loud rustling could be heard from the jungle. She stood up abruptly, hand on the hilt of her sword, thinking that it might be the Others, or even a polar bear. She hadn’t seen one of those in a while.

But it turned out to be the exact opposite. 

“Sayid!” Lena exclaimed, her hand detaching itself from the sword as she ran over to him, Jin, and Sun. The three of them looked disheveled and tired, not to mention that it seemed they lost the boat. But they were alive, and that was all that mattered. 

“Dudes, what happened?” Hurley, who had also made his way over, asked. 

“The Others attacked.” Sun explained tiredly. “They took the boat, but we’re alright. We just had to take the long walk back.” For some reason, it amused Lena to think about Sayid third-wheeling to Jin and Sun while they walked across the island to get back, even though it wasn’t that funny.

“Never leave me in charge again.” Lena said to Sayid, only partially joking. She really hated being the one everyone looked to. It was a lot of pressure, and she kept feeling like she was going to screw everything up.

“Trust me, I have no intention of going off and doing anything like that again.” He replies, gesturing broadly to the jungle. Lena assumed he was talking about the whole ‘Others attacking the boat’ thing. “Though, I’m sure you did great here.” 

“I doubt it.” Lena muttered in response. She glanced back at the camp and suddenly remembered Eko, who she was supposed to be looking after. “Sayid, I think there’s something you should see.”

…

“How long has be been like this?” Sayid asked, shocked, as he stared down at Eko’s unconscious, unmoving form. 

“A few days now.” Lena answered. Charlie and Hurley were standing behind the two of them as well, both of them having been extremely helpful during said few days.

“What happened to him?” Sayid continued.   
“Before or after we saved him from the polar bear cave?” Charlie replied, sarcasm evident in his response. 

Lena looked down at Eko, somehow seeing him in a different light since Sayid got back. Instead of seeing all the ways he had recovered form his injuries, she saw the blood and the cuts that covered him from head to toe. She saw her messy handiwork as she had tried to patch him up. 

She really wasn’t qualified whatsoever. But she had done her best, and hopefully, that had been enough. 

“Hey, do you guys smell smoke?” Hurley asked as they walked away for Eko’s tent. While Lena didn’t have the best sense of smell, the smoke in the air was clear to her. 

She turned to see that Eko’s tent, the one they had just left, was on fire.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Lena whisper-yelled as the four of them completely changed directions and sprinted towards Eko’s tent. While Sayid and a few of the other survivors who had noticed what was happening tried to put the fire out, Lena, Charlie, and Hurley managed to pull Eko out.

He seemed mostly unharmed, for a guy who had just been in a burning tent. He was mumbling something about a brother and confessions, but Lena didn’t really pay attention.

“You’re alright, it’s okay.” Charlie said to Eko, although Lena had a feeling Eko couldn’t really hear Charlie in the state that he was in. 

“Get him some water.” Lena instructed. Charlie nodded and ran off, stopping to quickly explain what happened to a very confused Locke along the way.

Lena started to go back towards the tent, figuring she could help with the fire, when she heard Charlie shouting Eko’s name. She whirled around yet again to find that the man had disappeared. 

…

“I don’t understand.” Lena began. “How could he just disappear? He was unconscious, wounded, and basically out of his mind!”

“I don’t know how Eko left.” Locke answered. “But I have a solution for something else: I think I know how to find Jack, Kate, and Sawyer.” Lena nearly fell off of the large rock she had been sitting on. Locke had actually come up with a plan.

“Can I ask why he is being included in the conversation?” Sayid asked, gesturing to the final member of the little group, Desmond.

“Is that supposed to hurt my feelings?” Desmond asked. Lena laughed, although it probably wasn’t intended to be funny. Desmond then continued explaining exactly why he should be included in the discussion. ”The computer in the hatch wasn’t just for pushing the buttons. I’m pretty sure it could be used to communicate with other stations.” 

Lena remembered the DHARMA orientation video she had seen in the hatch, where a scientist who’s name she forgot had talked about the Initiative, the hatch, and, as Desmond said, other stations.

“This is fascinating, but you just told me the hatch exploded.” Sayid said dryly. Lena raised her eyebrows, but didn’t say anything. Ever since getting back from the boat trip, Sayid seemed to be even more easily annoyed than usual. 

“One of them did.” Locke replied, putting an emphasis on the number, implicating that there were numerous hatches scattered around the island. 

“You want to communicate with the Others.” Lena said as Locke’s plan dawned on her. She had to admit, it wasn’t the strategic procedure she had been expecting. But, then again, she hadn’t thought of anything, so she wasn’t one to talk. 

“No luck, dudes.” Said a voice from behind him. Lena didn’t have to turn to know that it was Hurley, and that Charlie was probably with him as well. “We looked everywhere, but Eko’s gone. There’s no trail. Not that we even know what a trail looks like, by the way.”  
“When you pulled him out of the tent, did he say anything?” Locke asked. Lena attempted to recall Eko’s frantic mutterings, but nothing came to mind.

“Just mumbling something about his brother.” Charlie answered. “Nothing coherent, though.”

“Sayid, pack your gear.” Locke said with an air of authority. “We’re going to that computer. And don’t worry about Eko. We’re all going to the same place, after all.”

…

That same place Locke had been talking about happened to be a clearing near a cliff, which was also apparently where Boone had fallen, giving him the injuries that led to his death.

Before leaving, Locke had asked the entire camp if they wanted to go, saying that he wasn’t going to run things like Jack did. One couple volunteered, named Nikki and Paulo. They were annoying, but Lena just kind of ignored them. 

Locke led them into the jungle and found Eko almost immediately, near a stream. His wounds were nearly gone, which surprised Lena, but not that much. They were on that island, after all. 

“Do you have any idea where it is that we’re going?” Sayid whispered to Lena as they trekked through the jungle. They had been walking for at least an hour, probably more. 

“Nope.” Lena replied. “At least, I’ve never been. But I’ve heard it’s like the hatch, but with less supplies.” 

“We’re here.” Locke suddenly announced. Sure enough, Lena could see a yellow Beechcraft plane resting on the jungle floor, upside down. With a chill, she realized that the red stains on the side were dried blood. Boone’s? Or someone else?

“You all go down to the hatch.” Locke continued, pointing to the steel door in the ground. “I’ll be down there in a moment.” Sayid glanced at Lena for confirmation, and she just shrugged. 

Sayid and Lena, along with Nikki and Paulo, managed to get the door open, and the four of them went inside as Locke and Eko stayed near the plane.

Lena didn’t know what it was they were talking about, and she wasn’t sure that she wanted to. 

…

“I’m Dr. Mark Wickmund, and this is the Orientation Film for Station 5 of the DHARMA Initiative.” It was the same man from the hatch’s video, although Lena was pretty sure his name had been something different. Still, she decided not to focus on that, and she payed attention to the video. “Station 5, or, The Pearl, is a monitoring station where the activities of participants in DHARMA Initiative projects can be observed and recorded.”

Locke, who had finally gotten down, was talking to Sayid about technical and electrical stuff that Lena didn’t understand. Eko, meanwhile, was still up above.

“Hey guys?” Nikki asked. “What are these other TVs for?” Lena glanced at where Nikki was and saw that there was an entire wall of TVs. She briefly wondered how she hadn’t noticed those before, but stopped wondering so she could listen to the conversation. “You said there’s more than one, right? Maybe they’re connected to other hatches.”

“Well, I’m suddenly feeling very stupid.” Locke commented. Lena couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not. Knowing Locke, probably not. 

“I could try to patch one of the other feeds.” Sayid added. He started to say something else, but he was interrupted by the sound of a toilet flush. All of them stopped talking to see Paulo walk out of the bathroom. His face flushed red with embarrassment, and he muttered something about the toilet still working before going to the back of the room. 

Sayid continued to fiddle with the control board before one of the TVs changed from static to a low-quality video of another room.

“We got something.” Lena called out to Sayid. He dropped whatever he had been holding, and they all stared at the screen, waiting for something to happen. 

Suddenly, Nikki let out a loud gasp as a man appeared on the screen. He was tall, and had a large black eyepatch over one of his eyes. Overall, the man looked very intimidating. 

His hand reached up towards the camera and flicked some kind of switch. As soon as he did so, the TV switched to static yet again, as if the man had never even been there. 

_Tick-tick-tick-tick._

There was only one thing on the island capable of making that noise. And, coupled with the loud metallic screech, Lena came to a conclusion: The smoke monster was near.

And Eko was outside. 

While Nikki and Paulo were confused, Sayid, Lena, and Locke all knew what was happening. The three of them scrambled out of the hatch as fast as they could, and saw Eko lying facedown a few feet away.

Locke reached him first, and Lena could tell what had happened just by Locke’s sad expression.

Eko was dead, or at least close to dying. He seemed to have one last bit of life left in him, as Lena could see him use his last breaths to whisper something too Locke. However, it was clear once Eko’s body went limp that he was gone.

“What did he say?” Lena asked breathlessly, not really comprehending what had just happened. 

She wasn’t really sure what she had been expecting Eko’s last words to be, but it certainly wasn’t what Locke answered.

“‘We’re next.’”


	14. Chapter 14

Eko’s funeral was small. Only a few other people other than the ones who had gone to the Pearl station were there, those people being Desmond, Charlie, and Hurley.

“What happened to him?” Nikki asked. Lena had forgotten that most people from the crash didn’t know about the smoke monster, or most of the other kind-of-unsolved mysteries. 

“Must have been an animal. Maybe one of the bears.” Locke lied. Lena wasn’t sure why he wasn’t telling the truth, but she didn’t question it, as she was sure there was a good reason. “But we’re going to bury him here. He- he would have wanted that. And there’s been too many funerals lately. No one needs to see him like this. I can go back to the beach and get a few shovels.”

“I’ll come with you.” Sayid said quickly. Clearly he, for one, wanted to know why Locke was lying about the smoke monster, and he probably wanted answers about other things.

Locke wasn’t really in a position to argue, but he still protested that a bit. However, in the end, Sayid won, and the two of them left to go to the beach. 

…

Despite it being small and not many people being there, Eko’s funeral was still quite a sad event. Locke seemed particularly affected by it, which somehow made it worse, since not much fazed John Locke. 

“When the hatch exploded, your prayer stick fell out of a tree right on top of me.” Locke began. “So, Sayid and I came out to get it, because it didn't seem right to bury you without it. I'd like to think you died for a reason, Mr. Eko. I just hope that it's not too long before we find out what the heck it might be. Rest in peace, Mr. Eko. Thank you for helping me find my…”

But Lena never did find out what Eko helped Locke find. For, as Locke placed the prayer stick on the freshly dug and then filled-in grave, he saw something. Something that seemed very important. 

…

_Lena was having a bad day. Scratch that, a bad month. Well, more like a bad year._

_Lena was having a bad life._

_She did what most people would do: She drank her sorrows away. In her case, it was at a local bar in New York City, where she was currently living in a crappy apartment and working at a grocery store. She knew that there were plenty of ways that she could make money, but she didn’t want to do that anymore._

_But apparently, all that was going to change._

_“You have quite the reputation, Miss Ashford.” Drawled a cold voice from behind her. She stiffened, but tried to not show fear as a man in a large trench coat sat down next to her. He had a slight British accent, and he kept his face shrouded._

_“I wasn’t aware that I even had one, Mr…” Lena trailed off. She was going to save herself with sarcasm. Wow, great plan, she thought to herself._

_“I’m going to get right to the point, Miss Ashford.” The man said, not bothering to tell her what his name was. “I work for a man named Charles Widmore, you may have heard of him. We’ve been looking through many possible candidates, and you are our number one pick for this job.”  
Lena had not, in fact, heard of anyone named Charles Widmore, but his name alone sounded evil. She decided to not say anything and let the man finish speaking._

_“Mr. Widmore wants you to sabotage a boat race.” The man continued. “I know, it sounds odd, but that is what he wants. The contestant in particular is a man called Desmond Hume. Mr. Widmore would like for you to, on the day of the race, damage his boat.”_

_Don’t do it, Lena said to herself. But, a small voice in the beak of her mind thought differently. It was like in movies, where there was an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other._

_“What will happen if I don’t agree?” Lena asked quietly. “Will Charles Whatever-his-name-is kill my family or something?”_

_“Oh, of course not.” The man replied. “He’s seen your file, and he knows your life is rather miserable already. There’s only so much misery one can take. But you haven’t answered my question, Miss Ashford. Will you do it?”_

_Lena thought, and she thought hard. Why should she hurt this man in a sailing race just to make her life a little better for a small amount of time?_

_“No.” Lena whispered. “I can’t do this.” She grabbed her jacket and walked out of the bar as quickly as she could, leaving the man behind. Lena never saw him again, which was fine with her._

_But the next week, she took another job from a different man. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t change herself, and she couldn’t change her desire to be in action._

…

It was really good to have at least one of the so-called leaders back. Well, two actually. Sayid and Locke had taken charge, and Lena gladly gave up her authority. She had no idea how Jack had managed it all the time. 

“Lena!” Sayid called out. “I need your help with something.” Lena jogged over to where he was standing, happy that she could do something. Even though she didn’t want to leave, she didn’t want to be completely useless, either. 

“What’s up?” She asked.

“Hurley says he found some kind of van in the jungle.” He replied, sounding kind of irritated. “I was wondering if you ever encountered anything like that.”

“If I saw a van, I’m pretty sure I would have told someone.” Lena said. And, while Sayid seemed annoyed by the whole thing, Lena was intrigued. A van wouldn’t really be good for going around in the jungle, but on the island, she never really knew. “I think-“

But Lena never did get to say what she thought, because at that moment, the sound of someone exiting the jungle could be heard. Even though it was probably someone from their group, Lena could never be too careful, so she walked over to see who it was.

And, as the two figured emerged from the jungle, it became clearer and clearer as to exactly who it was. And, when she finally got the answer, Lena was utterly astonished.

“Sawyer? Kate?”


	15. Chapter 15

Lena couldn’t believe it at first. After all, Kate and Sawyer had been captured by the Others. But there they were, on the beach, alive and safe.

At that point, everyone had run over, seeing the two of them walking out from the jungle. It was practically a miracle. 

While neither of them were very “openly expressing emotions” kind of people, Kate and Sawyer both had a variety of emotions clearly visible. Both seemed happy and relieved, but also worried about something. And there seemed to be a whole host of confusion about feelings for each other. 

At least, that’s what Lena thought.

She didn’t really think about it too much, though. She wasn’t a very “emotional expressing” kind of person either, but she was really happy to have them back, even Sawyer. 

Lena and Kate hugged, which was rare for Lena and probably rare for Kate as well, but neither of them cared in the situation. But, as Kate pulled away, it dawned on her.

Where was Jack?

…

“And then he told us to run and not come back for him.” Kate concluded. For the past few minutes, she had been explaining to Lena, Sayid, and Locke what had happened to Jack. It turned out that he made a deal with Henry Gale, who’s real name was Ben, apparently, and enabled Kate and Sawyer to escape.

“Why wouldn’t he want you to come back?” Lena asked. She didn’t really know Jack that well, but she knew that he probably didn’t want to stay with the Others.

“He let us escape, even though he had to sacrifice himself.” Kate replied. “He probably didn’t want it to be for nothing.”

Sayid continued to ask Kate about what happened to Michael and Walt, and about the Others having boats. While Kate answered those questions, Lena thought about what Kate said happened. Back when they had first crashed on the island, Lena had thought of Jack as a selfless robot. And, while he wasn’t exactly a robot, he sure as hell was selfless.

“We escaped with a kid named Karl.” Kate was saying as Lena tuned back in to the conversation. “He said they live here on, this island, not the one where we were held. Sawyer let him go before he could take us there.”  
“Why?” Sayid demanded. “And why would Jack-“

“Look, I don’t know!” Kate exclaimed suddenly, clearly fed up with all the questions. “I don’t know why Sawyer let the kid go, and I don’t know why Jack did what he did. Do you think I wanted to leave him there?!”

Lena could see the guilt in Kate’s eyes over leaving Jack behind, and she could tell that Kate wanted to go find him.

“Alright, females only.” Lena said, turning to Sayid and Locke. She never thought of Kate as someone needing ‘girl talk,’ but she certainly needed it now. “Shoo.” 

Sayid raised his eyebrows and Locke looked sort of amused, but both of them silently agreed, and they turned around and started walking in the opposite direction. 

Lena turned to Kate and suddenly realized that she wasn’t very good at ‘girl talk.’

“Okay, um.” She began awkwardly. “I don’t want to sound like some kind of therapist, but you need to tell someone what you’re really feeling about this whole thing. It’s not good to keep it bottled up.”

“And is that someone you?” Kate asked.

“It can be.” Lena replied with a shrug. “But it’s the same with all of you: You, Jack, Sawyer, Sayid, everyone else. Even me. We keep our emotions locked up inside until they burst. I’m still not sure why, even in my own case. I’m still kind of figuring that out. But what I’m trying to say is, I know it’s not good to keep it all in.”

“I just… Jack has always done everything for all of us.” Kate sighed. “And we just abandoned him without a second thought. I know that’s what he wanted, but still. And now with Sawyer… everything has kind of turned upside down.”

It even looked like a huge weight had been lifted off of Kate’s shoulders. Lena had at least been right about one thing, because Kate did look better.

“I’m going to get him back, Lena.” Kate said. And from the way she spoke, Lena could tell her mind was made up. “I owe him that much.” 

…

“What did you say to Kate?” Sayid asked. Lena abruptly looked up from the tarp she had been tying down to see Locke and Sayid standing before her.

“Um, nothing.” Lena said. “She just told me more about what happened. Why?”

“Kate went into the jungle a little over an hour ago.” Locke answered. “She gave no explanation as to why.”

“So instead of going after her, you decided to wait an hour and them talk to me?” Lena pointed out. The two of them glanced at each other, prompting Lena to sigh and roll her eyes. “Come on, then.” 

She dropped the tarp, stood up, and made her way towards the jungle, not really caring if either of them followed, although they did. 

It didn’t take them very long to find Kate. For someone who was supposedly good at sneaking around, she left a very obvious trail, and Lena spotted her examining some kind of net.

“You know, you really could have just asked us for help if you wanted to find Jack.” Lena called out. Kate looked up abruptly, but then relaxed when she saw who it was.

“Well.” Kate began. _Oh, she has a whole excuse prepared_. “You don’t know where to look and you’re not motivated. I don’t really blame you. Why would you want to risk more lives just for one?”

“You’re wrong.” Locke countered. “We didn’t go to look for you before not because we weren’t motivated, but because we didn’t know where to look. Now we have a compass bearing, and it will lead us right to him.”

“How?” Kate asked. Lena was very confused as well. She didn’t know anything about a bearing that they had found. 

“Because of the way the sunlight hit Mr. Eko’s stick when John was burying him.” Sayid replied, with a hint of sarcasm in that statement. 

“What are you out here to find, Kate?” Lena asked, changing the subject. “If you didn’t know where to look, then why are you here?”

There was rustling in the bushes, and the sound of a bullet clicking into place could be heard very clearly. Lena put one hand on the gun that Sayid had given her. She had seen _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ enough times to know that she shouldn’t bring a sword to a gun fight. 

“No, don’t shoot.” Kate exclaimed. She then turned to whoever it was that was hiding and spoke to them. “We’re just here to talk! You can come out!”

Emerging from the darkness was Danielle Rousseau herself, gun in hand, looking as ready to fight as ever.

“What are you doing here?” Danielle asked, noticeably not putting her weapon down. Kate explained everything to her, and how Danielle could help them because she knew the island very well.

“And what makes you think I have an interest in helping you?” Danielle wondered in an annoyed tone of voice. She did have a point there.

“Because there was a girl who helped me escape.” Kate said. “About sixteen years old, and her name was Alex. I’m pretty sure that she’s your daughter.” 

And, judging by the look on Danielle’s face, her mind was made up immediately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thanks again for reading yet another chapter of this story. Coming up in this book is one of my favorite episode runs of the show, and the remaining chapters of Uncharted, 16-22, were by far my favorite to write out o fall of the chapters in this series. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them!


	16. Chapter 16

The group that was Lena, Sayid, Locke, Kate, and Danielle hadn’t found anything in two days. Only Locke was still in relatively good spirits. Lena and Sayid were simply annoyed that they were following a bearing based on Eko’s stick, Kate was worried about Jack, and Danielle seemed to be off in her own world, thinking about her daughter that she hadn’t seen in sixteen years.

They had stopped to rest and eat, so while Locke and Sayid were arguing again, Lena looked through her backpack to see what food she had left. There were some DHARMA crackers and a few apples, but that was it.

“We’re running low on food.” Lena announced as she zipped her bag shut. “I’m going to go look for some fruit, or something.” 

Her little statement was mostly ignored by the two arguing men and the two women who were worrying about different people. She sighed and stood up, taking her backpack with her, and walked through the surrounding jungle.

The sound of a mooing cow stopped her dead in her tracks. With one hand on her gun, she cautiously crept towards the source of the sound to see a blue barn with a cow in front of it. 

A man was pulling the cow towards the barnyard and whistling some sort of tune. His head was only turned for a moment, but his distinctive feature gave it away.

The man in front of her was the same man she saw on the screens in the second hatch, the man with the eyepatch. 

As soon as the man was inside and out of earshot, Lena sprinted to where the group had made camp, occasionally looking over her shoulder to see if anyone was following her.

She burst into the clearing, heaving for breath, and causing all four of them to look up in surprise.

“Guys.” She panted. “There’s something you need to see.”

…

“I’ve circled the entire house.” Sayid whispered as he peered through his binoculars. All of them were huddled together in the bushes just outside of the barn, all except Rousseau, who had decided to avoid conflict with whoever was there.

“You said you’ve seen him before?” Kate asked, directing her question at Lena, since she originally found the place. “The man in the house?”

“On a video feed in one of the DHARMA stations, The Pearl.” Lena answered. “And I’m pretty sure there aren’t many eyepatch guys on the island.”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out who he is and what he wants.” Sayid decided, handing his gun to Kate for some reason. “We ask him.” 

“If this guy is one of the Others, it’s probably not the best idea to go without weapons.” Lena pointed out. Locke, who hadn’t spoken during the whole conversation, nodded in agreement, as did Kate.

“If I’m unarmed, he won’t feel threatened.” Sayid explained. “And if he is, I’m confident you can cover me from here.”

Lena was reluctant to go through with that plan, but it was the only plan they had. And, she had to admit, it wasn’t a bad plan, but it was risky. 

Sayid, it seemed, wasn’t going to take any feedback, as he cautiously stood up and started walking towards the house. He already had his hands up in surrender, and he walked slowly.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out through the air, and Sayid collapsed to the ground. Lena could see blood flowing from his shoulder.

“He’s been hit.” Lena whispered worriedly, starting to stand up. The other two pulled her down, saying that it would just make things worse.

“I didn’t cross the line!” Eyepatch Man shouted as he walked into the doorway of the house. “We had a truce! This is my land, you said I could stay here!”

“I am not who you think I am.” Sayid replied, clearly in pain. It took all of Lena’s self-control to stay where she was. “I am not one of the Others, I crashed here on a plane! I’m unarmed I swear.”

“Now!” Locke whispered as Eyepatch Man ordered Sayid to stay where he was. Lena gladly obliged, pulling out her gun and popping up from her hiding spot.

“Drop the rifle!” She shouted as the three of them pointed their guns at him. “Drop it, and back up!” Eyepatch Man, shocked, dropped his gun as instructed and backed towards the house. While Locke picked up the rifle and Kate kept her gun trained on the man, Lena knelt down next to Sayid.

“Are you alright?” Lena asked, knowing it was a stupid question, but asked in anyways. 

“You mean other than the bullet in my shoulder?” He asked. Despite everything, Lena chuckled. The Sayid that first crashed on the island probably wouldn’t have made that kind of remark in a situation like the current one, but things had changed, and partially for the better.

“You really did crash here?” Eyepatch Man asked. All four of them answered ‘Yes’ at the same time, all to some degree of annoyance.

“I’ll go in first.” Locke volunteered. “Make sure it’s safe.” Locke did as he said he would and walked into the house as Kate questioned Eyepatch Man about who he was, and he answered quickly. 

“My name is Mikhail Bakunin, and I am the last living member of the DHARMA Initiative.”

…

Between the two of them, Kate and Lena managed to get the wounded Sayid into the house, which had been cleared by Locke. Mikhail informed them that he had experience with treating wounds like Sayid’s, and he explained everything while he did so.

“I grew up in Kiev and joined the Soviet Army.” Mikhail began. “After we lost the Cold War, I was dismissed from the military. After all of that, I found myself wanting to do something good. So I replied to a newspaper advertisement. ‘Would you like to save the world?’ it read. That’s how I got into the Initiative.”

“How long have you been here?” Lena asked. From the Orientation videos, Lena knew that the DHARMA Initiative had been around for a pretty long time. 

“About 11 years now.” Mikhail answered. _Still hasn’t beaten Danielle,_ Lena mentally noted. She then wondered when it had become a competition. It would be a good game show: How long have you been on the island?

Lena stopped her weird train of thoughts and tuned back in to Mikhail’s story soon enough to hear that the station they were in was called The Flame.

“And what exactly is the purpose of this station.” Sayid asked, wincing as Mikhail continued to treat his wound.

“To communicate with the outside world, of course.” Mikhail replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. But to the three of them, it was huge. Kate and Lena exchanged a shocked glance, while Sayid, who had to stay in place while Mikhail was fixing the gunshot wound, simply stared at him, also shocked. 

“The rest of the Initiative is all dead now.” Mikhail continued. “They foolishly started a war with The Hostiles, which led what they called the purge. I only survived by not participating in it. After it was over, a few men appeared in my yard with a deal. As long as I did not cross their line, I would be left alone.”

Mikhail stopped speaking, and it seemed he was about to take the bullet out of Sayid’s shoulder. Lena herself had been shot a few times, and she knew how painful it was.

Still, that didn’t ease anything as Sayid screamed in pain.

…

Mikhail had gone to apparently get them iced tea, and Locke had been studying the station’s computers the whole time. But something felt very off, and Lena was going to figure out what it was.

“This doesn’t make any sense.” Lena commented. “Why would they let him stay here, especially with all this equipment? The Others wouldn’t do that.”

“Actually, it makes perfect sense.” Sayid replied. Lena raised her eyebrows but gestured for him to continue. “The reason they let him stay here is because he is one of them.” 

At this, Lena and Kate both abruptly stood up and stared at Sayid. If he had known that whole time, then why were they still there? Kate asked him as much, but his answer did make a lot of sense.

“I am certain he is not alone.” He explained. “And maybe, if we can somehow get an advantage over them, they can take us to Jack.” Lena was about to say more when Mikhail returned with a tray of glasses filled with ice and a pitcher full of tea. Lena and Kate both sat down as abruptly as they stood up, hoping Mikhail hadn’t noticed anything off.

“I grow the tea myself, so pardon its bitterness.” Mikhail said as he poured the tea into the glasses.

“Do you know how long it’s been since we’ve seen ice?” Lena replied. An Other or not, iced tea was iced tea. “Any tea is good.”

Sayid and Mikhail continued to tensely converse about the cables and wires in the station. But what Lena noticed was Mikhail’s hand slowly inching towards the glass pitcher, and his other one clenching into a fist. If there was anything Lena knew, it was when a fight was coming.

She drew her sword just as Mikhail threw the pitcher at Sayid’s head. He dodged it easily, and it shattered against the wall. 

At that moment, Lena realized she was much better at fighting in, for one, not extremely close quarters, and two, with her friends not very close. She had to be careful. Besides, it wasn’t like she was an expert sword wielder. Her form was far from perfect, and she needed more training, even though there was no one to train her. Still, she used her existing skills. Instead of swinging or slashing her sword, she simply stabbed at Mikhail. Not the best form, but effective, as she managed to graze him along the side.

Still, Mikhail had the advantage of strength, and as Lena pulled the sword back for another stab he shoved her hard into the wall, and she fell to the ground, still conscious, but dazed. 

While Sayid and Mikhail struggled, Kate picked up Mikhail’s rifle from the wall and pointed it at him. Sayid scrambled away as Mikhail surrendered, his hands in the air.

Locke, who must have heard all the commotion, ran into the room and looked too Sayid for answers.

“Get some rope.” Was all Sayid said.


	17. Chapter 17

“Are you sure he’s not alone?” Lena asked. The four of them were all conversing around Mikhail’s unconscious and tied up body, the rope courtesy of Locke, and the unconscious part courtesy of Lena’s sword’s hilt. 

“The horse his still outside, and the saddle and stirrups are set for someone much shorter than him.” Sayid said, gesturing to the man on the ground. “I think they sent someone out here with him because they lost communication.”

“Well, if someone his here, they’re hiding pretty good.” Locke replied. “I checked every nook and cranny of this place.”

“Not every nook and cranny, John.” Sayid said, pulling back the floor rug. Underneath it was a trapdoor. How he knew it was there, Lena had no idea. But clearly, there was another nook.

In the end, it was decided that Kate and Sayid would go down and see what was in the mysterious basement. Locke went back to the computer, doing whatever he had been doing before. Lena, meanwhile, had found the weapons stash.

While it wasn’t nearly as vast as the one that had been in the hatch, it was still quite a sight. There were guns on the wall, and Lena decided to take a rifle similar to the one Mikhail had been holding earlier, and she added to her previously dwindling collection of knives. 

“John! Lena!” The voice belonged to Sayid, so Lena put down the weirdly small knife she had been holding and walked out to see Kate holding a gun to the head of a dark skinned woman, who must have been an Other. 

“Out here!” Came Locke’s voice from outside. Lena frowned in confusion. What was he doing out there?

She followed Kate, Sayid, and the Other out to the front yard where Mikhail, who had somehow escaped, was holding a gun to Locke’s head. Locke looked eerily calm as Mikhail stated his terms: He would let Locke go if they turned the Other woman over to him.

“Don’t listen to him.” Locke stated. “If he was going to kill me, I’d be dead already.”

“Shut up!” Mikhail shouted. “I will execute you right here!” Locke, instead of being quiet like a reasonable person, continued to insist that Mikhail was not going to shoot him.

“Be quiet, John!” Sayid hissed as he tried to figure out what their next course of action should be. The Other woman and Mikhail had started to speak to each other in a language that Lena was pretty sure was Russian. 

Locke was shouting at Sayid to not let them talk, Sayid was yelling at Locke to stop talking, the two Others were still conversing, Kate was holding her gun steady. And Lena? She was just confused. Everything had gone from ‘under control’ to ‘what the fuck is going on’ in a matter of minutes. 

“Just do it Mikhail!” The woman suddenly shouted in English. Mikhail muttered something in Russian before shoving Locke away and shooting the woman in the chest. 

None of them had any time to react before Mikhail turned the gun on himself. Locke, however managed to get there in time, knocking the gun away and allowing Sayid to hit Mikhail with the rifle.

“Finish it!” Mikhail shouted. “Kill me.” For a second, Lena thought Sayid was going to do it. But then he pulled his gun back and walked away, leaving the rest of them to deal with the Other.

…

Danielle decided to return after all the action. She seemed to weave in and out of their lives like a slithering snake.

Sayid, as clever as usual, had used the cables he had been asking Mikhail about to find a map to a place labeled the Barracks, where he figured out the Others lived. 

“We should kill him Sayid.” Rousseau said suddenly. “He already made it clear that he would kill us.”

“No.” Sayid replied defiantly. “He is my prisoner, and I will decide his fate.” Lena couldn’t help but smile a little. She didn’t know anything about what Sayid had done before the crash, but it was clear he had come a long way.

“I didn’t find anything worth taking.” Announced Locke as he joined the rest of the group along with Kate. “I did play that silly chess game again. And now I can see why you didn’t want me to beat it.”

Lena was about to ask what that meant when the Flame Station exploded. 

“What the hell?!” She exclaimed after she finally got her bearings. The explosion had thrown them all back, and she now saw that the station was completely destroyed.

“What have you done, John?” Sayid demanded. “That place was our one hope of communicating with the outside world!”

“The computer said if there was an incursion by the Hostiles, I should enter 77.” Locke replied. “So I entered 77.” Sayid shook his head and muttered that they should keep going. He led Mikhail though the jungle, and the rest started to follow. 

“First the hatch, now this.” Lena remarked to Locke. “What are you going to blow up next?”

…

Lena was getting tired of Sayid and Locke arguing.

Not that it was nearly as bad as Locke arguing with Jack, but it was still pretty bad. The two of them had been bickering about whether Sayid’s map was right, to which Sayid had retorted that Locke based his compass bearing off of a carving on a stick. Lena agreed with Sayid on that point, but they seemed to have moved past that and were now discussing what to do with Mikhail.

“Remind me why we’re keeping him alive?” Locke asked, annoyed. Lena glanced at him. She would have thought, in that situation, Locke would want to keep him alive because of some mumbo jumbo about fate. But it seemed to be the exact opposite. 

“What do you suggest?” Sayid retorted. “We shoot him like a dog?”

“No.” Locke replied. “I like dogs.” Lena was surprised at Locke’s nonchalance about the whole thing. She glanced at him uneasily, and it seemed that the rest of the little group was equally unnerved. Well, all except for Danielle, who didn’t care. 

“How about no one shoots anyone, and we just follow Sayid’s map.” Lena suggested. “I trust that it’s right, and I think you should have a little _faith_ , John.” Lena put an extra emphasis on the word ‘faith’ knowing that it would get Locke’s attention. He sighed, but kept going, and the rest of them were quick to follow.

“Nicely done.” Sayid whispered to Lena. He, at least, had noticed her use of the word faith, apparently. 

They kept walking in silence, and while the silence was much better than everyone arguing all the time, it was still awkward, and being on that island, silence was eerie. 

It was quickly broken when Kate started asking Mikhail questions about the island and the Others. Surprisingly, Mikhail answered, telling them about a submarine the Others used to get to and from the island. Lena was shocked to hear that there was such an easy way off the island, although she doubted the Others would let them go. 

She didn’t really listen to the conversation until she heard both Kate’s and Mikhail’s voices get louder. She jogged towards the front of the group to see exactly what was happening.

“You are not on the list.” Mikhail was saying. Kate started to question him about whatever the list was, and he answered calmly. “I’ll make this simple for you: You are not on the list because you are flawed. Angry, weak, impulsive, and frightened.”

Lena tried to think of a retort for that statement, but before she could say anything, Sayid spoke up. At that point, they had all stopped walking and were standing in front of Mikhail.

“I don’t care who you Others are, you don’t know everything.” Sayid said. “So don’t speak to us as if you know us.”

“Of course, I don’t know you, Sayid Jarrah.” Mikhail said. For some reason, that sent chills down Lena’s spine. “Or you, Lena Hale Ashford. And you, Kate Austen, are a complete stranger to me. I have a fleeting memory of you, John Locke, but you can’t be him, because the John Locke I knew was-“

However, Mikhail didn’t get to finish that sentence, as Danielle exclaimed that she had found something. As they went to see what it was, Lena glanced at Locke, who had gone as pale as a sheet. Whatever Mikhail had been about to say terrified him. 

Still, she didn’t give it too much thought as all of them, including Mikhail, walked over to the sound of Danielle’s voice to see some sort of sonic fence surrounding the perimeter of what Lena assumed was the Barracks.

“Well.” She said quietly. “I guess we’re here.” 

“What is it?” Kate whispered approaching the fence and reaching her hand out. Sayid quickly grabbed her other arm and pulled her back, sensing the danger of the place.

“Don’t touch it, or even go near it!” He exclaimed. Once he was sure no one was going to get too curious, he turned to Mikhail. “What are these pylons?” Pylons, that’s what they were called. The giant columns that rose up into the air and formed the fence.

“It’s a security perimeter.” Mikhail explained, annoyed with all of the questions. “But, like everything else on the island, it hasn’t functioned in many years.”

“Sure, because we’re definitely going to believe that.” Lena said sarcastically. Mikhail simply scoffed and rolled his eyes. 

Locke, it seemed was not taking any chances. He grabbed Mikhail by the collar and shoved him through the barrier. By the time any of the others could react, it was too late. Mikhail started to convulse, and he began to foam at the mouth. He dropped to the ground, clearly dead.

“Oh my god.” Lena and Kate whispered at the same time. No matter who he was, it was still a gruesome sight. Locke’s response, meanwhile, was less than adequate for what had just transpired. 

“Sorry.” 

“Sorry?!” Kate echoed incredulously. “Why the hell did you do that? We needed him!”

“They were never going to trade him for Jack, and you know it!” Locke retorted loudly. “He shot one of his own people, and the rest of them wouldn’t have hesitated to kill him as well. And pardon me for not knowing they had some kind of electromagnetic fence. How would I know that he would die?”

“I’m think you had a pretty good idea of what would happen, actually.” Lena commented. Locke glared at her, but it was clear that both Kate and Sayid agreed. Danielle, meanwhile, didn’t seem to be interested, which wasn’t unusual for her.

The other three continued talking and arguing while Lena examined the sonic fence and Mikhail’s dead body. But her attention was jerked back to her disagreeing friends when Sayid pulled a block of C4 from Locke’s pack.

“I thought you didn’t know there were any explosives?” Sayid questioned. As Locke struggled to come up with an answer, Sayid persisted with the questions. “Why did you take this?"

“You never know when a little C4 might come in handy.” Locke said. The end of his statement sounded like a question, and all of them could tell that he was lying.

Unfortunately, they had bigger problems. That being getting over the fence of death. 

…

“I believe the system fires a sonic pulse when an object passes between two pylons.” Sayid explained after figuring out the exact nature of the sonic fence. “As long as we don’t pass through that area, we should be fine.”

That didn’t exactly comfort Lena about the plan they had come up with. It was Sayid’s plan, really, to climb a tree over one of the pylons. Lena had spent the past time helping Locke cut down one of the nearby trees, him with the axe and her with a machete. 

“I’ll go first.” Kate volunteered. None of them objected. And, out of them all, Kate was the smallest. 

It was an extremely tense moment as Kate climbed onto the tree and, eventually over the pylon. Once she was safely on the ground, Lena let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

“I guess I’ll go next.” Lena said. She certainly didn’t want to go last, for some reason. She wasn’t the best climber, but since it was a matter fo life and death, she took it slowly and managed to get to the top. Lena was more than happy to jump down next to Kate and get off the tree of terror. 

_Tree of Terror would be a great horror movie title_ , Lena thought as Sayid climbed over quickly, followed by Rousseau, and lastly, Locke. 

All that was left to do was save Jack.

…

The Barracks weren’t far from the sonic fence, and Lena felt like she had butterflies in her stomach. It was one thing to plan it, but it was an entirely other thing to execute the plan.

“We’re here.” Sayid said quietly from the front of the group. Lena caught up to him to see a little village full of houses, and a bunch of the Others walking around.

The five of them crouched in the bushes, hoping that no one had seen them. 

“Jack!” Kate suddenly gasped. Lena’s head whipped forward and she saw that Jack was, in fact there. Not just there, bur running straight towards them. 

Kate was about to call out to him when he abruptly turned and caught a football. All of them gasped as they saw that it had been the formerly bearded Other, who Kate had previously said was named Tom, that had thrown it.

Jack Shephard, the selfless doctor hero, was playing football with the Others.


	18. Chapter 18

“What the hell?” Lena whispered as the two men continued to throw around the football. Why was Jack of all people doing that?

“Jack!” Said another female voice from the Barracks. A blond woman emerged from one of the houses, and Jack threw the football to her. She caught it, and the two of them started to have a conversation. 

“That’s Juliet.” Kate explained. “She’s the one who helped me and Sawyer escape.” Well, Juliet didn’t seem to be very anti-Others anymore. 

“Danielle!” Sayid suddenly whisper-yelled. Lena turned to see that the French woman was no longer there. She wasn’t really surprised. Rousseau wasn’t a very selfless person, and Lena wasn’t even sure why she had helped them in the first place, since she didn’t want Alex to see her, according to Kate. 

The four of them that remained inched along the tree line towards where Jack was. Lena let out a quiet gasp as she saw Juliet pushing a wheelchair, and sitting in that wheelchair was none other then the man formerly known as Henry Gale.

Ben. 

But what shocked Lena the most was when Jack shook his hand.

“This is going to be more complicated than we thought.” Locke whispered. That was one way of putting it, Lena supposed. 

…

After seeing the whole spectacle at the Barracks, the four of them went back into the jungle surrounding the Barracks to try and figure out some kind of new plan. Kate for one, didn’t seem onboard with the whole ‘plan’ thing.

“Look, as fun as that sounds, I don’t think we should run in there and hope that none of us die.” Lena said as Kate loaded her gun.

“I’m doing what we came here to do.” Kate retorted. “I’m going to rescue Jack.”

While Sayid and Kate argued about whether Jack would even want to leave and if the Others had done something to him, Lena took inventory of her weapons. She had her sword, obviously, a machete, various knives, and a gun. Unfortunately, she couldn’t use them all at the same time unless she grew more arms, which, even on the island, was extremely unlikely.

“You have to remember, this is Jack we’re talking about, the same guy who pulled people out of burning airplane wreckage.” Locke interjected. “If he’s shaking hands with the Others, I’m sure he has a damn good reason. We should wait until it’s dark, get to Jack when he’s alone, and if he wants to leave, we’ll get him out.” 

…

“Lena, Sayid, guard the front.” Locke whispered. They had waited a few hours, and it was time to enact the plan. “I’ll go around and cover the back. Kate, you get in through the side door. It’ll be better if you’re the first one he sees.”

“Got it.” Lena replied quietly. Sayid and Kate also confirmed that they were ready, and the plan was in motion. Locke and Kate went first, going towards the back and side of the house. Next, Lena let Sayid lead the way as they cautiously crept towards the front of the house.

There was silence in the air as the two of them stood near the front door of the house, weapons ready. 

And then all hell broke loose. 

First, the sound of both Jack and Kate shouting could be heard. Sayid and Lena both turned towards the sound, which was their first mistake. Four others crept up behind them, although Lena didn’t see until she heard Sayid cry out in pain.

She turned around in a flash, her sword drawn, to see the Others, Sayid already fighting them… and losing. Lena took advantage of the wide open space and swung her sword in a full arc, aiming to slash one of the Others across the chest. He dodged at the last moment, and the blow ended up grazing his arm instead of fatally wounding him. 

A knife whizzed past Lena’s head, missing her by inches. She quickly turned to see a female Other, armed with many more knives

Sayid, meanwhile, was not doing so well. His gun had been knocked away, and he was fighting the two Others with no weapons besides a few knives, which wasn’t going to do much against them. 

As hard as they fought, the two crash survivors were simply outnumbered. 

The Others dragged them, still kicking and struggling, into the house. Kate was already being restrained by more Others. Jack, meanwhile, was standing next to a piano, looking on at the whole scene sadly.

Lena was thrown to the ground, landing next to Kate on the hard floor. She groaned in pain as she hit the wood and the Others handcuffed her arms behind her back.

“Who else is with you?” Said the guy who seemed to be in charge out of all of the Others present, aiming his question at Kate. Her head turned imperceptibly towards Lena and Sayid, asking without words whether they should tell the Others that Locke was there as well. Lena shook her head, and even though she couldn’t see Sayid at the moment, she was sure that he was doing the same.

“Nobody.” Kate said after Jack quietly told her to answer the question. “No one else. It was just us.” She looked back up at Jack, but his expression didn’t change.

Their plan had failed miserably. 

…

Lena and Sayid ended up handcuffed to a swing set. 

Kate had been taken somewhere else, probably on the order of Ben. Clearly, out of the three of them, she was the most important to the Others, although that might only have been because of her connection with Jack.

“Even after landing on this crazy island, I never thought I would be handcuffed to a swing set.” Lena quietly remarked to Sayid. Then again, she never thought she would crash on a supernatural island, but there she was.

“That makes two of us.” Sayid replied. At that moment, a young girl walked into the area and told the Other who was guarding them, a man named Pryce, that Ben sent her to get Sayid’s pack.

Sayid and Lena glanced at each other, eyes wide. They both knew what was in the pack: C4. But Ben couldn’t have known that.

Unless someone told him. And Lena had a pretty good idea of who that someone was: John Locke.

“You’re Alex, aren’t you?” Sayid called out as the girl started to walk away with Sayid’s bag in her hand. She stopped dead in her tracks and turned around as Pryce yelled at Sayid to shut up. But as Alex turned to face them, Lena saw the striking resemblance to Danielle Rousseau.

“How do you know my name?” Alex asked quietly.

“Because you look just like your mother.” Sayid replied. A look of shock appeared on Alex’s face, replaced by one of confusion.

“My mother is dead.” She insisted, although she was frowning. The Others must have lied to her about everything. Her past, her family, all of it.

“I’m sure that’s what they told you.”

Pryce clearly had enough, and he also probably had orders from Ben. He walked right up to Sayid and hit him with the butt of his gun, causing Sayid to groan in pain and sink to the ground.

“Sayid!” Lena exclaimed. She made eye contact with Alex for a fraction of a second before Pryce told her to get going. She hesitated for a moment before going back to Ben’s house, although Lena could see her look back.

“Both of you keep your mouth shut.” Pryce ordered. Lena glared at him stonily before glancing down at Sayid, who was still recovering from Pryce’s blow. 

From beyond the Barracks, on a dock, Lena could see the submarine. They were so close to their way off the island, and yet she knew they would never get there.   
Suddenly, Locke emerged into the clearing, soaking wet. A bunch of the Others ran over, including Juliet and Jack. Locke and Jack exchanged a few words before Lena could barely hear Locke say that he was sorry about something.

And then the submarine exploded. 

It was ironic really. Just a few hours earlier, Lena had said to Locke: ‘What are you going to blow up next?’ Well, it turned out, that thing was the submarine. Their only way to escape from the island. 

…

All had been silent and calm since Locke blew up the submarine. Almost too silent. Silent enough that Lena had been expecting something coming.

Still, she wasn’t at all prepared when the Others marched out of their houses, all wearing gas masks, and a few of them threw two gas canisters at Lena and Sayid’s feet.

“Oh shit.” Lena muttered. She tried not to breathe it in, but there wasn’t much she could do with her hands tied. Eventually, she had to inhale, and spots danced before her eyes as her vision turned completely dark.


	19. Chapter 19

Lena woke up with a pounding headache. 

It all came rushing back to her. Mikhail, the plan to save Jack, being captured, and the gas canister being thrown at her. The Others had managed to take all of her weapons, even the sword. Thankfully, they hadn’t taken it with them, and it was lying a few feet away. Out of reach, but still there. One of the Others probably had to sacrifice a hand to get it out of her sheath.

“You’re awake.” A voice sighed, relieved. That’s when Lena remembered that she wasn’t alone in the whole situation. Sayid was there too.

“Please tell me everything that happened yesterday was just a bad dream.” Lena replied. She really hoped so, although she was pretty sure that wasn’t the case.

“Unfortunately, no.” Sayid replied. Lena sighed and decided to figure out exactly what their situation was. They were chained to the pole of a swing set, with Lena’s hands resting uncomfortably on top of Sayid’s. They were kind of facing each other, although Lena was leaning on the swing next to her. 

The Others, it seemed, didn’t want them to die, because right in front of the pole they were chained to was a tray with two pitchers of water, a large slice of bread, and a substantial pile of DHARMA crackers. 

“How long was I out?” Lena asked as her headache started to subside a little.  
“I’m not sure.” Sayid replied. “I only just woke up a few minutes ago.” Lena sighed again. They could have been unconscious for days and they would never know. 

Her stomach suddenly growled loudly, much to Lena’s dismay. Then again, there wasn’t much she could do to cover it up. 

“I think we should eat the bread.” Sayid added. “We’ll still have the crackers, and I’m sure someone will come for us before we run out of food.”

“Since when are you so optimistic?” Lena grumbled. “Shouldn’t we conserve it just in case? I doubt the Others are coming back, and no one else knows that we’re here.” Sayid frowned but didn’t say anything. Lena was reminded of the moment they first met, when Sayid shared pessimistic thoughts about being rescued, and Lena sarcastically called him a ray of sunshine. How the tables had turned. 

Well, if Sayid thought it was the best course of action, Lena wasn’t going object to eating something. Although it was a strange process, the two of them managed to break the bread into relatively even halves. It was a bit of a challenge to eat it with her chained hands, but she managed. She ate her whole piece in a matter of seconds, being even hungrier than she had thought.

“So are we just going to wait here for someone to come save us?” Lena asked, annoyed at the prospect. If only her sword was a bit closer…

“I think that’s our only option.” Sayid replied. “Unless you can somehow get out of these handcuffs?” Lena shook her head and tried to get as comfortable as possible. It was going to be a long… well, however long it was going to be. 

After about five minutes of sitting there in silence, Lena couldn’t take it anymore. 

“Can we just talk about something?” She said, breaking the silence. “Literally anything. If we’re going to be stuck here together, we might as well do something.” Sayid seemed slightly surprised by Lena’s request, but only for a moment.

“Um, alright.” He said, slightly awkwardly. “I mean, we don’t really know each other that well. We could ask each other questions, I suppose?” Lena wondered why she hadn’t thought of that in the first place. Sure, she was a bit uncomfortable with talking about herself, but then again, so was Sayid. 

“Okay.” Lena began. “I’ll start, I guess. Something simple: What’s your favorite color?” 

“Green.” Sayid answered. “Dark green. What about you?”

“Sky blue.” Lena replied. “Your turn.” If she were Sawyer, she would have added a nickname to the end of that sentence. But she was terrible at coming up with nicknames, and she didn’t want to sound rude. 

“Do you have any siblings?” Sayid asked. “I have one, a brother.” 

“Yeah, a sister.” Lena said. “Her name is Marie.” Of course, thinking about Marie made her think about the day before the flight. How she wished she could take it all back now. 

They continued like that for hours, asking each other questions. Lena learned things she would have never known about him otherwise, about his childhood and life and interests. And for Lena, it felt so good to finally let her story out, about her youth and when she was younger. She even talked about her sister, and their complicated relationship. Still, she hadn’t said anything about Joseph Hale or what she had done as a detective-in-training.

“Have you…” Lena trailed off, running out of questions. “Have you ever been in love?” _Lena, you idiot!_ She berated herself. Now she would have to answer the very question she had been avoiding. She really, really needed to think before talking.

“I- yes.” Sayid said after a moment. “Her name is Nadia. I was on the plane so I could see her again. After all these years, I was finally going to see her again.” He said the last part quietly, and Lena looked over to see a tear rolling down his cheek. _Great job, Lena, you made him cry._

“I had a boyfriend.” Lena said, the words practically spilling out of her mouth. “His name was Joseph, and I loved him, I loved him so much. But he’s gone now. He killed himself.”

They were both crying now, big heavy tears that didn’t seem to want to stop. Lena and Sayid, finally letting themselves be vulnerable. Finally taking down all of their protective walls. Finally letting themselves be… themselves. 

“I trained to be a detective.” Lena cried. Now that she had started letting it all out, she couldn’t stop. “That’s how I know how to use a gun. But one night, I was responding to a call, and a man pulled a gun on me. So I shot him. I killed him. No charges were pressed, I was barely even punished. But I killed someone, and I kept doing it. I killed people, I let people use me to kill.”

“I was a torturer.” Sayid said. “I hurt so many people. I hurt Nadia, my Nadia. I thought I could change, I thought I could become better, but I never can.” 

What a pair they were. Killers, thieves. People who pushed everyone around them away, thinking that they were better off alone, even if they weren’t. 

“You have changed, Sayid.” Lena whispered. “I’ve seen it. When we captured Mikhail, and you refused to kill him no matter what the others pressured you to do. You’re not a bad person, and… neither am I.” She said the last part quietly. It was hard for her to be kind to herself, to forgive herself for anything. But there she was, doing exactly that. 

And, with their heads rested against each other, stuck together in a situation that had somehow benefited them, both Lena and Sayid realized that they weren’t as alone as they thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know how when you're writing something and there's this one part that you're ridiculously excited to get to? Well guys, this was it. Ever since I started this fic, I was ridiculously excited to write this chapter, so please tell me what you thought! Thank you all for reading, and I'll see you on Sunday with the next chapter (only a few more to go until the third book!).


	20. Chapter 20

“Lena, wake up.” Came Sayid’s voice as he gently shook her awake. “Wake up.”

“Excuse me, but if we’re going to be stuck out here for a while, I want to at least get a good night’s sleep.” Lena murmured groggily as she struggled to open her sleepy eyes.

“One of the Others is here.” At that, Lena’s eyes flew wide open to see that, in fact, Juliet the Other was standing in front of them.

“Oh great, it’s you.” Lena muttered sarcastically.

“I just assumed you wanted to be rescued, but I can leave.” Juliet replied with a little eye roll. That was when Lena noticed the keys in her hand.

“Oh great, it’s you!” Lena said, saying her previous statement in a much more excited tone. Juliet walked over and quickly unlocked both pairs of handcuffs. After doing so, she walked away again, probably to join whoever else was there.

Lena rubbed her sore wrists as she stood up, Sayid doing the same beside her. She immediately reached out and pulled her sword from the ground, already feeling less tired just by holding it. 

Lena was about to go join Juliet and whoever else had been left behind when Sayid spoke up quietly. 

“The past few days… It would be nice to do something like that again.” Sayid said, almost as if he was embarrassed to admit it. But Lena was just confused.

“You want to be handcuffed to a swing set… again?” Lena asked, utterly baffled at why anyone would ever want to do that.

“No, no, of course not!” Sayid answered. “I mean, us. Talking.”

“Oh.” Lena said. She was surprised that he said that, considering that she had ended up making both him and herself cry during that ‘talking time.’ But she completely agreed with him. “Yeah, that would be really great.” Sayid smiled, and Lena found herself smiling as well. 

Unfortunately, they also had to deal with the current reality. Together, they first picked up their weapons from the nearby pile where the Others had dumped all of their confiscated stuff. After checking to see if anyone was hiding in any of the nooks and crannies, they met up with the others in the main area of the Barracks.

The only three remaining people were Juliet, of course, Kate, and Jack. Lena wasn’t very surprised to learn that Locke was gone, although she was surprised the Others let him go with them after he blew up the submarine.

“Jack.” Lena greeted. She wasn’t exactly sure what to say to him when he had a hand in her being captured. But she could tell he was still the same Jack.

“Lena, Sayid.” Jack replied, nodding at both of them in turn. While Sayid explained that all of the Others had practically vanished, Lena made eye contact with Kate and subtly gestured to Juliet questioningly. Kate simply shrugged before turning to walk away.

“She is not coming with us.” Sayid objected as Juliet went along with Jack, following Kate.

“Yes, she is.” Jack replied. “They left her behind too.” Lena’s eyes widened. She had previously thought Juliet was with them by choice, but that was apparently not the case. 

Sayid and Lena glanced at each other, both of them equally suspicious of the Other woman. However, Lena managed to communicate to him with a slight shrug that they might as well go with it for the time being. Sayid sighed, but he started to trail behind Jack, Juliet, and Kate. 

Lena took one last glance at the swing set before leaving. She had felt so at peace for the past few days, just her and Sayid, not worrying about the Others or the island or having to fight anyone.

But that peace was not meant to last.

…

“It’s getting late.” Sayid sighed as they stopped near a section of the long stream that ran through the island. “We should make camp.” Jack and Kate volunteered to get firewood, while Lena decided to go find some fruit or other food that they could eat. They had taken all of the cracker packets from the tray by the swing, but that wasn’t going to be enough, and the Others had taken all of the other food with them.

Lena really didn’t understand the Others at all. They had portrayed themselves to the survivors as some kind of primal tribe, they sent spies to infiltrate their groups, and they kidnapped kids and other people on their mysterious list.

Not to mention that they went through all that trouble just so Jack could operate on Ben, who made his plan way more complicated than it needed to be. All he really had to do was offer food and shelter in exchange for the surgery, and Jack would have happily done it. 

_Maybe it’s against some stupid island rule,_ Lena thought to herself. She looked around and quickly realized that for the past few minutes, she had been walking aimlessly and pondering the Others’s motivations. Hopefully nothing exciting had happened while she was gone. 

She grabbed some fruit as she quickly walked back to the camp, but the area was sparse anyways, probably from the Others gathering food.

She returned to the camp to see Jack and Sayid arguing, Juliet looking extremely uncomfortable, and Kate looking annoyed.

“She’ll answer your questions when she’s ready.” Jack was saying. Sayid must have been questioning her, which Lena couldn’t exactly blame him for. What she didn’t get was why Jack was so defensive of Juliet. “She’s under my protection.”

Sayid looked livid, which was not a good mood to see him in. Lena, meanwhile, felt just as surprised as Kate looked. Maybe she had been wrong, and the old Jack was gone.

…

“Sayid!” Lena exclaimed as she tried to catch up with him. He set a quick pace as he angrily sliced leaves out of the way with the machete he had borrowed from her. “Sayid!”

Lena half-walked, half-ran in order to match his long, angry strides. She knew he wasn’t mad at her, but he still seemed very agitated with everyone. 

“No one else trusts her, you know.” Lena pointed out. “It doesn’t matter what Jack says, they’re going to be outnumbered.”

“That doesn’t make things better.” Sayid replied. “People take Jack’s word, and they’re going to let her in.”

Lena contemplated that for a moment, and realized she was sort of sounding like a therapist. _Me, a therapist,_ she laughed in her head. _Sure, when pigs fly._ Although, she mentally noted, anything could happen on that island, including, possibly, pigs flying. She supposed she might just have to take a lesson in therapy. 

“It’ll be alright, Sayid.” Lena said in a more serious tone after the hilarity of her own not-so-funny joke wore off. “We’ll figure it out. We always do.” 

…

They finally arrived back at the beach a few hours later, and everyone seemed happy to see them, even Sawyer. The beach camp never looked more comforting than that very moment. 

Lena was very surprised when she received a hug from Hurley, although he did seem like a hug-y kind of guy. She had to admit, it made her a little happy to feel so.. validated. If someone as nice as Hurley was giving her a hug, maybe she wasn’t that bad. 

“What the hell is she doing here?!” Sawyer suddenly shouted, breaking the nice feeling that had come when the smaller group reunited with the rest of the survivors. Everyone followed his gaze, and one by one, everyone became aware of Juliet standing there. One of the Others among them. 

…

No one was happy about Juliet coming to their camp, and everyone made that pretty clear in the little meeting that had convened.

“She’s one of them, Jack!” Sun exclaimed. “How can we trust her?” Jack was the only one actually defending her, which outraged everyone. It seemed that Sayid had been wrong: Even though Jack trusted her, no one else did.

“Not anymore.” Jack argued. “They left her behind. And I already told you, I don’t know where they went, and neither does she.”

“Well, here’s a bright idea.” Sawyer piped up. “Let’s stick our resident Iraqi on her. We can see what she says after he’s through.” No, absolutely not. While Lena didn’t trust Juliet whatsoever and knew she was probably lying, she was not going to have anyone taking advantage of Sayid like that.

“I don’t do that anymore.” Sayid said quietly. Lena smiled slightly. She had been right about one thing: He had come very far. “But I don’t trust her, Jack. If she’s innocent, why does she refuse to answer any questions?”

Jack and Sayid started to argue, yet again, about Juliet and her loyalties, but something else drew Lena’s attention away. And that was Charlie shouted Claire’s name as the formerly pregnant woman coughed up blood and collapsed in his arms.

…

In the end, it was Juliet who ended up curing Claire of whatever sickness she had contracted. Although, it was Juliet’s fault in the first place that Claire was sick. Still, that had earned the woman major points with most of the survivors. 

Lena, though? She was as suspicious and mistrustful as ever of any of the Others. Juliet was with them for a reason, and she was determined to find out what that reason was.


	21. Chapter 21

“Lena!” Lena glanced up from her book, an old and worn down copy of A Tale of Two Cities that she had found in the makeshift pantry. The voice was unmistakably Kate’s, and Lena was slightly annoyed.

She stood up, putting the book down on the tarp that was the floor of her tent. She opened the flap of the entrance to see that it was, in fact, Kate standing there impatiently with her arms folded across her chest.

“What?” Lena groaned. “I am not going on some crazy mission into the jungle again, if that’s why you’re here.” 

“Actually, it’s not.” Kate replied. “Trust me, I don’t want to do that again either. I just, um, kind of need some advice.” _Don’t say relationship advice, please don’t say relationship advice,_ Lena mentally begged. So of course, that’s exactly what Kate said.

“Okay, first of all.” Lena began, annoyed. “Why does everyone assume I’m good at relationship advice? I am the absolute worst! Second of all, I thought you had a happy little thing going with Sawyer.” 

Kate glanced away, embarrassed. That was when Lena figured it out. 

“This is about Jack?!” Lena exclaimed.

“Say it louder, I don’t think the Others heard you.” Kate snapped sarcastically. Lena shrugged apologetically, although she had been a bit too loud. 

Lena supposed that she had to give some sort of advice, or Kate would never leave her alone. Jack, Kate, and Sawyer were like a cliche love triangle, and Juliet seemed to now be part of it as well. 

“Kate, honestly, I have no idea.” Lena sighed. “I’m really not good at this kind of stuff. Usually me in relationships.. it doesn’t end well.” She pulled a water bottle from inside the tent and took a few sips as Kate contemplated that.

“You seem to be doing fine with Sayid.”

Lena choked on her water.

“What?!” She spluttered. “Wh-what are you talking about?” It was Kate’s turn to be annoyed, rolling her eyes and explaining why she said that.

“It’s a little obvious, Lena.” Kate said as she started to walk away. Lena wasn’t even sure about her own feelings, and yet Kate had apparently figured everything out? 

Was she right?

…

“Dude!” Hurley called out to Lena as she walked along the beach. The sound of the ocean waves was calming to her, and she had become lost in her thoughts. Unfortunately, well, reality struck back.

“Hey, Hurley.” Lena greeted. As he came closer, she saw that he looked king of panicked. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”  
“Yeah, kind of.” Hurley replied. Oh great, Lena thought. Another problem to solve. “Okay, so you know how Desmond, Charlie, Jin, and I went camping? Well, we didn’t actually go camping. Someone parachuted onto the island. Her name’s Naomi, and she’s wounded. We figured she’d probably want to talk to a girl, and Sayid said we could trust you.”

Whoa. That was a whole lot of information to process. Lena had not, actually known, that those four had gone camping, and apparently, they hadn’t. And then the news that someone came to the island… if they had found the island, then why was no one besides Naomi there?

And then, of course, the last part of Hurley’s explanation caught Lena’s attention as well. They trusted her. When looking for a woman on the island that they could trust, they went to her. Not Kate, not Sun, not Claire. Her.

It probably didn’t matter to anyone else, but it was sort of a big deal for Lena.

“Okay.” Lena said after remembering that Hurley was still waiting for her to answer. Not that he was a particularly impatient person, but Lena had been spacing out for the past few minutes. “Where is she?”

Hurley simply gestured for Lena to follow him, and she followed him at a quick pace. While they went, Hurley explained about Naomi’s freighter, phone, and how she was sent by Desmond’s girlfriend, Penelope Widmore. 

Eventually, Hurley stopped at a tent near the end of the camp, which Lena was pretty sure belonged to Charlie. Or maybe it was Hurley’s, she wasn’t sure. 

“Right this way.” Hurley said with a dramatic flair as he pulled the tent flap open. Lena chuckled and rolled her eyes, but both of those soon disappeared as she walked in. 

Both Desmond and Sayid were there, but Lena’s eyes immediately went to the unfamiliar woman who she assumed as Naomi. Her hand was covering a set of bandaged that were stained with blood. 

“Hi.” Lena said with an awkward little wave. She realized that she probably should have prepared something to say. “I’m Lena.”

“Please don’t make me explain everything again.” Naomi sighed tiredly. “I’ve already done it twice.”

“Don’t worry, Hurley already told me everything.” Lena replied. Naomi sighed with relief. Lena, feeling out of place, glanced over at Sayid, not exactly sure why he had suggested she talk to Naomi. But he wasn’t very helpful, as he just shrugged. 

“I’m going to go work on the phone.” He announced. Hurley said something about joining him, and the two of them left the tent, followed by Desmond who said he was getting something to eat. That just left Lena and Naomi.

Damn you, Sayid. 

“I hope these guys have at least been helpful.” Lena said as she sat down where Sayid had previously been sitting. 

“As good as it can get when you’ve been impaled by a tree branch.” Naomi joked. Lena laughed. She could get behind that woman’s sense of humor. 

Unfortunately, their little moment didn’t last long. The tent flap was pulled open yet again by Sayid’s hand, and Kate entered, followed by a very grouchy Hurley.

“She saw the phone.” Hurley grumbled. Clearly he had enjoyed keeping the secret. 

“Oh my god.” Kate whispered as she saw Naomi, who just greeted her with a wave of her hand. 

Lena could tell that her time in the little circle of trust was going to be short lived. First of all, the fact that Hurley, one of the worst secret keepers ever, knew, and the fact that more and more people were finding out by the minute.   
…

_Well, you know what they say: When one door closes, another one opens._

Or, in that case, when one secret gets out, another one is told. That was Lena’s first thought when Sayid and Sawer came to her with the tape of Juliet talking to Ben about spying on their camp.

“Seriously?!” She exclaimed. “I didn’t think the Others would be this predictable.” They had always been so mysterious and ten steps ahead, but nearly every one of the surviving 815 passengers had seen that coming. 

“We can talk about the Others’s cliche plans later.” Sawyer replied. “But we need to do something about this.” Once again, Lena began to wonder why everyone went to her for advice.

“Play it for the entire camp.” Lena suggested. “Or just go straight to Juliet. No, even better, show it to Jack first.”

“I think we should go to her first.” Sayid said. “If this gets out, it’ll give her a chance to slip away.” Sayid, once again, had presented the best and most logical plan, and it seemed that Sawyer agreed as well, which was rare.

Nothing like a common enemy to unite everyone.

…

“She’s not here.” Sayid sighed as he dropped the flap of Juliet’s tent. They had gone with his plan and went to confront Juliet, but the woman in question was missing.

“Yeah, I noticed.” Sawyer remarked snakily, which was what Lena had been about to say.

“You beat me by one second.” Lena muttered. Sawyer rolled his eyes, but all three of them were soon on guard again as Kate approached them.

“Are you looking for Juliet?” She asked, saying the name with a bit of distaste. “You’re not going to find her in there, she left with Jack. They took off right after I told him about Naomi.”

Lena and Sayid exchanged an annoyed glance. Did Kate really have to tell Jack everything? 

While Sawyer was simply confused as to who Naomi was, Kate explained that she told Jack about her because he was a doctor, and that she didn’t know where it was that he was going, blah, blah, blah. 

“You know, maybe you should tell everybody else about Naomi too.” Kate called out to Sayid, who had just started to walk away.

“Play her the tape!” Sayid yelled back without even turning around. Lena smirked as Kate turned to Sawyer and asked about what the tape was. Sayid had gotten the final word on that. 

…

Telling the rest of the survivors did not go as well as Lena would have hoped.   
Mostly, though, people were reacting to the fact that someone had faked the wreckage of their flight, and everyone thought they had died. Sayid was trying to calm them down, but he was failing miserably so far. 

“But it’s Jack!” Sun protested after Sayid explained why they didn’t tell everyone in the first place. “And I believe Juliet is a good person as well.”

“Oh really?” Sawyer said. “Would you happen to be basing that on her taking you to a medical station, Mrs. Kwon?” Sun’s expression was one of pure shock, and as a reply to her questioning him about knowing about it, he played the tape in which Juliet told Ben that Sun was pregnant.

“Where did you get that?” And there was Jack Shephard. But, he did not seem to be reacting the way Lena would have thought. He didn’t seem remotely surprised at all. 

“Where did you get it?” Jack repeated, even after Sayid, Lena, Sawyer, and many others asked him numerous questions. Juliet appeared behind him as well, and Lena instinctively put one hand on her sword handle.

“Turn the tape over.” Juliet instructed. Everyone stared at her blankly, not trusting a single word she said. “If you want to kill me, go ahead, but first, turn the tape over and press play.” Lena had to admit, she admired Juliet’s bluntness about the whole situation, but that didn’t make her any more trustworthy. Still, Sawyer, who was holding the tape, did as instructed, and the creepy voice of Ben filled the air.

“Juliet, it's Ben.” The recording began. “I’m sending four teams to extract Kwon the night after tomorrow. If you determine that Austen or anyone else is pregnant, mark their tents, and we'll take them, too. Good luck.” 

“I told Jack what they were making me do the night I saw your baby on the ultrasound.” Juliet said to Sun. “The only reason we haven’t told you is because we haven’t decided what to do about it yet.” 

“Yet?” Sayid and Lena echoed at the same time. 

“Come on.” Jack said as he turned to walk back into the jungle. “I think we all have some catching up to do.”

…

“Danielle!” Jack shouted as he led her, Sayid, Kate, Desmond, Charlie, Sawyer, Claire, Juliet, Sun, Jin, and Hurley through the jungle. All of them had been chosen to see what the oh-so-amazing plan of his was. 

Danielle was quick to come, emerging from the trees as if she was a chameleon, blending in the whole time. 

“Show them.” Jack instructed. Danielle picked up two wires from the ground and linked them together. As soon as she did so, a tree exploded.

Lena jumped back, nearly crashing into Sayid, who helped steady her just in time to hear Jack’s big explanation of all his weird behavior.

“When Juliet told me they were coming, I started to wonder where the hell we could hide. But I realized that hiding's pointless. They're just gonna keep coming back. And the very first time we know exactly what they want, when they're coming to get it, and they have no idea that we're gonna be waiting for them. So Juliet's gonna mark the tents just like she was told to, but there's not going to be any pregnant women inside. Instead, there's gonna be plenty dynamite, just like what we just used on that tree. So tomorrow night, we stop hiding, we stop running, we stop living in fear of them, because when they show up, we're gonna blow them all to hell.”


	22. Chapter 22

“We need enough wire so that we can trigger the dynamite from a safe distance.” Danielle was saying. “I should be able to finish rigging the tents within the next 24 hours, and we will surely be ready by tomorrow night.” The plan was already in motion, and Danielle was discussing it with Lena, Jack, Sayid, and Juliet.

“We also need to talk about Naomi’s phone.” Sayid added. “I can’t transmit with it because Danielle’s signal is blocking the frequency. If we can switch off the message, Naomi’s boat should be able to hear us.”

“No, they won’t.” Juliet sighed. “We’re jamming it.”

As Sayid bombarded Juliet with questions, Lena realized that the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. How Danielle’s signal, which had been playing for sixteen years, was never heard, and how none of the electronic equipment they had salvaged ever seemed to work. 

“Ben is using a DHARMA station to block any signals coming from the island besides ours.” Juliet explained. “They call it the Looking Glass.”

“Alright, well where is it?” Lena asked. Judging from Juliet’s expression, it wasn’t anywhere good.

“That’s the problem.” She replied. “It’s underwater, and I don’t even know where underwater it is.”  
“I believe I do.” Sayid said quietly, as surprised at himself as the rest of the group was. He quickly excused himself and ran to get some papers that he believed would reveal the location of the mysterious station. 

It turned out, some of the papers that Sayid had managed to get from the Flame station did reveal the location of the Looking Glass. There was, still, of course, the slight inconvenience (aka huge problem) of it being underwater. The only way in was to swim down and go through a moon pool. 

Eventually, it had been Charlie who volunteered to swim down there, and Jack reluctantly agreed. For once, everything seemed to be in order while in the face of danger.

However, Lena spoke too soon. 

“What is that?” She asked, pointing to some kind of canoe in the water. It seemed that some other people had noticed as well, because she wasn’t the only one running towards the water. Inside the canoe was a teenage boy, no older than 18, and he seemed frantic.

“Karl?!” Sawyer exclaimed. Lena raised her eyebrows. Sawyer knew whoever that was? “It’s ok, I know this guy. What the hell are you doing here?”

“They’re coming.” Karl gasped. “My people.” He must have been that Other who helped Kate and Sawyer escape along with Juliet, and Danielle’s daughter, Alex. 

“We already know.” Sawyer replied dismissively. “When your ‘people’ show up here tomorrow night, we’ll be ready for them.”

“Tomorrow?” Karl echoed. “No, they’re coming tonight! They’re coming right now!”

_Oh fuck._

“We have to leave now!” Sun exclaimed after Karl denounced Juliet as a spy, to which she calmly replied that the survivors already knew.

“Where can we go?” Lena asked, not at all fond of the idea of running and hiding again. “They know everything about this island. They’ll find us.”

“We don’t have nearly enough wire to set it off from a safe distance.” Danielle said. 

“We could shoot the tents.” Sayid suggested. “We’ll camouflage the dynamite, and once they’re in range, we can target it from the tree line.” Once again, Sayid had come up with a perfect solution. 

Jack, however, seemed a bit wary of that idea, and reminded Sayid that Juliet had marked four tents, meaning they needed for guns and four shooters. 

“I can do it.” Lena offered before realizing that she no longer had a gun, as she had given it to someone else once she thought that she wouldn’t need it. Luckily, both Kate and Danielle offered up theirs.

“Rousseau, you need to help me lead everyone to the radio tower.” Jack said. “Charlie is going to the Looking Glass station, and once he’s there, we can stop your transmission and send out a new one.” 

_Well,_ Lena thought. _So much for having the advantage._

…

By the time the rest of the group was ready to leave, Sayid and Lena had found the other two who would stay behind to fight the Others: Jin and Bernard. She wouldn’t have pegged either of them as good shots, but apparently she had been wrong. 

While the two men said goodbye to their respective wives, Lena checked her weapons. She had been given Danielle’s rifle, which would be good for long-distance shooting. And she had her sword, of course, in case anything went wrong.

Once she was sure that she was fully equipped, Lena walked over to Sayid, who was standing alone and watching as the rest of the survivors started to leave.

“No one to wish you luck?” She asked. Sayid turned at the sound of her voice, and he seemed to relax a little. “I would, but I do need some luck too.”

“I’d like to think that if one of us wasn’t staying behind, we’d be sort of like them.” Sayid replied, gesturing to the two couples. “Not exactly, of course.”

“I’d like to think that too.” Lena said. “Are you ready for this?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Sayid responded, summarizing what Lena was feeling as well. At least if things went wrong, they’d still be by each others’s side. “Thank you for staying to do this.”  
“You can always count on me.” Lena replied quietly, barely audible. What Sayid had said brought Lena back to what Kate had said the other day, about her having feelings for Sayid. Was she right? Or had she just been overestimating a friendship?

If- no, when Lena got out of the fight alive, then she could figure it out. But at the moment, she had a mission, and it was imperative that she did not fail.

…

The Others came on schedule, in the dead of night. The four people who had stayed behind, including Lena, were already in position, their targets having been assigned. Lena did have to admit, she thought it was a bit of a stretch to say that four women were pregnant, but the Others seemed to believe it. 

There were about fifteen of them, give or take a few. Lena could see that Tom, the formerly bearded Other, and Pryce, the one who had caught them during the Jack rescue, were among them. 

They split up, each of them taking one of the four tents. The group that was the closest to their tent was Sayid’s target, although Lena’s weren’t far behind. 

_Don’t miss, don’t miss, don’t you dare miss,_ Lena thought to herself as the Others came closer and closer. Her heart was pounding, and she was surprised that no one could hear it.

“It’s empty!” A female other shouted as she pulled back the flap of Sayid’s tent. The other Others shouted that it was a trap, but it was too late for them.

Sayid shot first, hitting his mark perfectly, and the tent exploded, killing at least three of the Others. Lena took careful aim and fired, breathing out a sigh of relief once her tent exploded, incinerating two of the Others. Bernard’s tent was next, and it exploded just a few seconds after Lena’s.

_Come on, Jin._

There were gunshots, but no explosion. Jin had missed, and Pryce, the Other, had caught him. Tom, meanwhile had managed to take out Bernard, leaving two Others, Lena, and Sayid. 

She looked at Sayid, wide-eyed, through the trees and foliage. He was aiming his gun at Pryce, who was currently shouting at the rest of them to come out. 

There was a rustling noise behind her, and Lena whirled around to see a female Other approaching her with a gun in hand.

Lena didn’t waste any time. She unsheathed her sword and sliced through the air at the Other, who managed to dodge the blow. Luckily, she managed to knock the woman’s gun out of her hand, leaving her defenseless. Lena didn’t have time to be remorseful as she slashed the blade across the woman’s throat, killing her almost instantly. 

Unfortunately, the rest of her team wasn’t as victorious. Bernard was unconscious, Jin was still held at gunpoint, and Sayid…

Lena frantically scanned the tree line, hoping that he was still there. And he was, except there was a gun to his head. 

“Put down your weapons!” The Other that was threatening Sayid said. “Put them down or I’ll shoot him!” Lena knew that there was no way she could face all three of the remaining Others on her own without getting herself and her friends killed. So she did the logical thing: She laid her gun and sword on the ground, and she held her hands up in surrender.

…

“Why do we always end up in these situations?” Lena remarked to Sayid as the three Others forced them to kneel with their arms behind their backs. Sayid didn’t reply, apparently too busy staring daggers at their captors. If only looks could kill. 

The third Other, who’s name Lena did not know, had tried to take her sword. He had burned himself, but not too badly, as he had dropped it immediately. He was well enough to hold a gun, at least, one that was currently pointed at the back of her head. 

Tom, meanwhile, was talking to Ben on his walkie-talkie, explaining the situation. Lena did feel a bit accomplished knowing that they were surrounded by bits of dead, blown-up Others. 

“They’re not talking.” Tom was saying to Ben. _Yeah, no shit._ “We have Jarrah, Ashford, Kwon, and the dentist.” Bernard raised his eyebrows at being called ‘the dentist’ but he didn’t dare to speak. 

“Shoot Kwon.” Came Ben’s voice over the walkie-talkie. A panicked expression settled over all of them, even Sayid. There were four of them, and the Others didn’t need them all alive. “If you want them to answer your questions, kill him now.”

Jin said something hatefully in Korean, which Lena was pretty sure translated to something very unpleasant. 

That didn’t stop Pryce, though, as he aimed his gun directly at Jin’s head. Lena knew that he wasn’t bluffing. The Others were going to kill him. 

And Sun would have to raise her child alone. 

But if they talked, they would be giving up the entire rest of the survivors. Was it really worth the price?

“No talk.” Jin said sternly as Tom explained that if they gave up the rest of their people, no one would be hurt. 

“He’s lying, he won’t kill any of-“ Sayid began to insist, but the third other hit him with the butt of his rifle, silencing him immediately. 

“Don’t do it.” Lena whispered. She just had to hope that they were, in fact, bluffing. But as Pryce stood there, finger on the trigger-

“A radio tower.” Bernard said. _No, no, no._ “They’re hiking to a radio tower. A woman came to the island, and they’re trying to call her ship.”

“How did he know that we were coming tonight, and not tomorrow?” Said Ben, speaking through the walkie-talkie. Tom gestured for Bernard to continue, and he did.

“A kid told us.” Bernard explained. “Said his name was Karl. He warned us that you were coming.” Pryce finally lifted his gun away from Jin, and Lena breathed out a sigh of relief, although it was quickly overshadowed by worry for her friends.

“What do you want us to do?” Tom asked Ben. “Kill them?” Ben’s reply, however, made it clear that he had a plan.

“No. Not yet.”

…

It wasn’t long before the walkie-talkie crackled to life again, and Tom was quick to answer. However, it seemed that Ben was talking to someone, and that someone was Jack.

“Your plan killed eleven of my people” Ben’s voice was faint, but Lena could hear his words loud and clear. “But the ones that survived are now holding your friends. Lena, Sayid, Jin, Bernard. At gunpoint.”

“Jack, don’t give him anything!” Sayid shouted. Pryce slammed the end of his gun into Sayid’s stomach, and he groaned, slumping to the ground.

“You son of a bitch.” Lena growled, before shouting: “Don’t do it, Jack!” 

“And what’s to stop me from snapping your neck?” Came Jack’s voice. Despite everything, Lena cracked a small smile. 

“Tom, if you don’t hear my voice in one minute, shoot all four of them.”

And just like that, Lena’s smile disappeared as she began to mentally count down the seconds. But surely, surely they wouldn’t actually kill them, right?

Right?

_Fifty-seven, fifty-six, fifty five…_

Lena didn’t want to die. But there she was staring death right in the face. It was only a matter of _forty-nine, forty-eight, forty-seven…_

After everything, that couldn’t be how it ended. It couldn’t, it couldn’t. Lena thought she had a purpose, something bigger than to die. 

_Thirty-six, thirty-five, thirty-four…_

The three Others had their guns ready. She knew Jack wasn’t going to give up the chance to leave the island, which was the right thing to do.

_Twenty-two, twenty-one, twenty…_

She thought of her mother, and Marie, and Joseph. She thought of everyone she had come to know on the island, the people who now felt like family to her. She thought of who she was before, and who she had become on the island. A better version of herself.

_Ten, nine, eight…_

Lena’s time was nearly up, the clock ticking steadily. The Others would follow Ben’s orders, like they always did. 

Lena closed her eyes, preparing for the inevitable.

_Three._

_Two._

_One._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well everyone, that's the last chapter of the second book! Obviously this isn't much of a cliffhanger since you all know what happens next, but I needed to end the book somewhere. The third book is called Anchored, and will be posted this Friday with the same update schedule of every Friday and Sunday. Thank you all so much for reading this fic, and I will see you with the next book on Friday! (Update: Anchored has been posted)


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